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IDEAL SUGGESTION 



THROUGH 



MENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY 



A RESTORATIVE SYSTEM FOR HOME AND PRIVATE USB 



PRECEDED BY A STUDY OF 



THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING 



BY 

HENRY WOOD 

Author of " God's Image in Man " " Edward Burton " " The Political 
Economy of Natural Law " etc. 



The universe is change ; 

Our life is what our thoughts make it 

Marcus Aurelius 



TENTH EDITION 



BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

1899 



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Copyright, 1S93, by Henry Wood 



All Rights Reserved 



Ideal Suggestion through Mental Photography 



SEf 22 1920 



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Frate7'7ially dedicated to all seekers for 

TR U TH, 

with whom it stands above 

Sect, System, or Co7zventionality. 



PREFACE, 



Suggestion of some kind is the great mental motor. 
It may enter the human mind either in thought-waves 
projected by another mind, or through the avenue of 
an outer sense. Hypnotic suggestion stirs the mind 
on the sensuous plane by the dominant imposition of 
the force of another personahty. Ideal Suggestion is 
the photographing of pure and perfect ideals directly 
upon the mind through the medium of the sense of 
sight. It is voluntary, and free from any admixture 
of personality or imperfection. By the cultivated vigor 
of thought-concentration it develops wonderful power 
and utility. 

The principles presented are unconventional and 
often misapprehended, but the dawn of their general 
recoenition is at hand. If the author can add even a 
small contribution to the influences which will hasten 
their acceptance, he will find abundant recompense for 
this attempt at their popular interpretation. While 
they involve laws and forces which extend above and 
beyond the domain of the pure intellect, they are or- 
derly and have scientific adaptability. The moulding 
influence of the spiritual and internal man upon his 

7 



5 PREFACE. 

external counterpart will soon receive merited appre- 
ciation. Causative forces lie hidden below the surface, 
and if common observation fails to cognize them it is 
due to the color-blindness of materialism. 

If the principles set forth embody living realities 
they should be sought for their own sake ; if otherwise, 
they will soon come to naught. Knowledge of Truth 
is the highest human attainment. 

That part of this work which is devoted to Ideal 
Suggestion is naturally preceded by an outline of the 
general laws of mental healing. The attempt is made 
to present them in a simple manner, free from techni- 
cality and occult terminology. The author, though 
having had some unusual opportunities for gaining an 
understanding of this subject, is not a professional 
" healer," and does not practise nor give advice con- 
cerning disease. His position is that of an indepen- 
dent conservative investigator and student of Truth. 
The conclusions formed are the result of a careful and 
extended observation of the experiences of scores of 
persons, together with a study of the literature and 
philosophy of the subject, in addition to a personal 
experience of depth and intensity. 

It is not for a moment expected that Ideal Sugges- 
tion will, in any degree, displace regular mental treat- 
ment. On the contrary, the better the whole subject 
is generally understood, the broader will be the field of 
activity for every good living teacher and healer. Ideal 
Suggestion, though now presented as a formulated 
system for the first time (so far as the author is aware), 
is only proposed as supplementary. 



PREFACE. 9 

But though it be but an extension of existing practice, 
the author beheves that it contains great practical 
possibiHties for good, and he therefore regards it both 
as a duty and privilege to give them expression. 

RoxBURY District, Boston, 1893. 



\i 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

rAGE 

I. The Obstacles to Progress 15 

II. The Body 31 

III. The Power of Thought 47 

IV. Planes of Consciousness 65 

V. Inferences and Conclusions 79 



PART II. 

IDEAL SUGGESTION. 



Ideal Suggestion 97 

Practical Directions , ... 108 

meditations and suggestions. 

I. God is here , no 

II. Divine Love fills Me 112 

III. God is Mv Life 114 

IV. Christ is Within 116 

V. I AM Soul 118 

VI. I AM Part of a Great Whole 120 

VII. All Things are Yours 122 

VIII. I am not Body 124 

11 



1 2 COiY TENTS. 

PAGE 

IX. I FEAR NO Evil j^5 

X. I WILL: BE Thou made Clean 128 

XI. Spirit is the Only Substance 130 

XII. I am free j^-, 

XIII. There is no Death t,i 

134 

XIV. I LOOK Upward J3(5 

XV. I am God's Child j^g 

XVI. Pain is Friendly j^o 

XVII. I listen 

XVIII. I make Harmony , j. , 

XIX. I RULE THE Body j^^ 

XX. Health is Natural j .g 

XXI. Mental Healing is Scientific icq 

XXII. Healing is Biblical . . . -. 1-2 

XXIII. Prayer is answered j-. 

XXIV. I am healed jj-g 

XXV. Be Ye Therefore Perfect icg 

APPENDIX j^j 



PART I. 
THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING, 



THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 

** Progress, man\s distinctive mark alone, 
Not God's, and not the beasts' : God is, tliey are; 
Man partly is, and wholly hopes to be." 

Before attempting to give an outline of the laws of 
mental healing, it may be well to briefly consider some 
of the difficulties which are encountered, not only in 
its practical application, but also In its popular accept- 
ance as a system having a real and scientific basis. 

Truth is eternally and unchangeably complete, but to 
human consciousness It Is constantly growing. The 
only changeable factor related to It, is the ever-expand- 
ing capacity of the mind of man for its fuller recog- 
nition. Every new development of any importance 
finally comes into its abiding-place only through fric- 
tion, misapprehension, and opposition. What there is 
already occupies all the space, and there is no place for 

IS 



1 6 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

a new-comer, especially if it be a disturber. Over and 
over again history records the declaration, *' There is no 
room in the inn." Every new development, even in 
physical science, has had to traverse a thorny path be- 
fore coming into an assured position ; and, in the hio-her 
realms of religion, government, jurisprudence, ethics, 
and economics, each new advancement has been cradled 
in a manger. The authority and self-sufficiency of 
existing institutions never leave any corner vacant. 
While the more impressive examples of this rule are 
farther back, in the recent past, slavery was declared 
not only to be right, but to exist by Divine and biblical 
authority, — and this in the North as well as the 
South. 

It would be illogical to expect any exception to the 
rule, in the reception of so radical an advance as men- 
tal healing — or, more correctly, the recognition of the 
law of mental causation. It is an intruder. If ad- 
mitted, its philosophy will necessitate a re-examination 
of systems which are dignified by hoary antiquity and 
eminent respectability. Institutions that have exer- 
cised unquestioned authority ; that are intrenched 
behind barriers of intellectual scholasticism, and that 
possess social and financial supremacy, instinctively feel 
that their infallibility is called in question. Piles of 
ponderous, dusty tomes thereby become mere relics of 
by-gone speculation. 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 1 7 

While mankind generally, as individuals, earnestly 
desire to find the truth, formulated systems, backed by 
prestige, literature, and authority are ultra-conservative. 
They yield not an inch, except by compulsion. When 
final acceptance becomes imperative, the New — after 
being freshly christened — is dovetailed in as a part 
of the Old. You are assured that it is but a slieht 
modification of what was there before, and finally, that 
they always thought so. A typical example may be 
noted in the manner in which the medical fraternity 
has received the phenomena of mesmerism. For sev- 
eral decades it was barred out, not only as useless, but 
as fraud and delusion. More recently, under the title 
of hypnotism, or hypnotic suggestion, it was permitted 
to peep in at the door ; and now, rechristened as '' psy- 
cho-therapeutics," it seems likely to gain a gradual 
entrance. 

While the theory of mental causation for physical 
disorder fully accords with everything vital and funda- 
mental In religion, considered as 2, life ; is In harmony 
with all high spiritual philosophy ; rebukes materialism, 
and develops the highest Ideal in humanity, yet the 
fact that it has not been Incorporated Into ecclesiastical 
and theological '* confessions," causes the church, as an 
organization, to misunderstand and oppose It. The fact 
that spiritual healing was regarded by the primitive 
church as the natural outward attestation of the Inner 



1 8 THE LAWS OF MEXTAL HEALING. 

higher Hfe, seems to have no significance to the church 
of to-day. When the Founder of Christianity gave his 
great commission, '' Preach the gospel and heal the 
sick," did he not mean all that he said ? Is the power 
of Truth partial, local, and limited to a single age ? If 
God be infinitely good, unchangeable, and orderly in 
His manifestations, could He withdraw powers and 
privileges that had been already bestowed ? If divine 
law is not suspended nor violated, the same " gifts of 
healing " that have once been exercised must be oper- 
ative to-day, under corresponding spiritual conditions. 
On the divine side, spiritual law must always be uni- 
form, otherwise God's methods would be self-contra- 
dictory. Many eminent men of advanced thought in 
the church who now admit the immutability of law, 
spiritual as well as material, have apparently failed 
to observe its logical outcome. It follows that the 
direct assurance of the Christ that, "These signs shall 
follow them that believe," either limits true believers to 
one epoch, or else proves that "works of healing" 
have a permanent and lawful basis. Does it not ap- 
pear that worldly policy, intellectital theology, and cere- 
monialism, as they came into the church in the time 
of Constantine, extinguished the early, simple, vital, 
spiritual potency which since that transition has never 
been fully regained. 

Turning to therapeutic systems, mental causation is 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 1 9 

in substantial harmony with the highest and best 
thought of the seers and philosophers, from Plato down 
to the present time. It is only medical science, as it 
has gradually degenerated into a great drug prescrip- 
tion system, that seeks for primary causation in the 
inert clay of the body. The wise physician makes a 
mental, as well as a physical diagnosis and is logically 
led to the utilization of immaterial forces. 

Popular prejudice against mental or psycho-thera- 
peutics arises largely from an inability to cognize the 
factors involved. Prevailing materialism makes it logi- 
cal to rely upon that which appeals to the senses. A 
majority are color-blind to the highest order of forces, 
and forget that, even In the external world, it Is not 
matter, but the Immaterial energy that moulds It, that 
produces all phenomena. Occidental civilization In Its 
general trend is distinctively external, almost superficial. 

The general identification in the public mind of 
mental healing with "Faith cure," is another prolific 
source of misapprehension. While there are many 
sincere clergymen and laymen who believe in '' miracu- 
lous " healing In answer to prayer and anointing, 
simple justice requires that a broad distinction be 
noted. Faith healing, as generally understood, in- 
volves a direct and special interposition on God's part, 
in response to petition. It implies that He is subject 
to changeableness and improvement, and that the ex- 



20 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

pected result is an exception to, or reversal of, univer- 
sal law. On the contrary, mental healing is entirely 
based upon law, which, though belonging to the higher 
domain, is orderly and exact. It enjoins human 
compliance with existing law, already perfect and inca- 
pable of improvement. While a vital faith on man's 
part is a powerful healing element, it should have an 
intellio[-ent and scientific basis. The divine order can- 
not be capricious. If God be infinitely and eternally 
perfect. His part is already complete, and it only re- 
mains for man to come into harmony with truth, which 
is the divine method. Faith healinor, defined as a local 
exceptional action of God, improved and set in motion 
by petition, is a relic of decaying supernaturalism. It 
is true, however, that many cases of healing take place 
among its disciples. Even pure superstition — as 
illustrated by the result of pilgrimages to shrines and 
contact with sacred relics — often heals, because, 
though the niodics operandi is misunderstood, it starts 
into action saving mental and spiritual recuperative 
forces. 

Spiritual healing is beyond ordinary intellectual ap- 
prehension. Transcending as it does the plane of the 
reasoning faculty, it cannot be proved by argumentative 
logic. It concerns the inner ego, and can only be com- 
prehended by the deeper vision* of the intuitional and 
spiritual nature. There is much objective truth which 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 21 

we are utterly unable to cognize until we have un- 
folded something of its kind and correspondence within 
ourselves. 

Popular misapprehension also arises from the mys- 
tical and technical presentation of psychological prin- 
ciples, which, though inherently simple, are made to 
appear unreasonable, and sometimes fanatical. Al- 
though there is truth above reason, as ordinarily defined, 
there is none against reason. There is spiritual as 
well as intellectual common-sense. Extreme state- 
ments, even if ideally true, should not be popularly 
presented in unqualified form, for they lead to unne- 
cessary misunderstanding and antagonism. Those who 
cannot leap to the climax at one bound, may often be 
led there by gentle advances. It is not a question as 
to the existence of truth, but of the unfoldment of the 
vision to behold it. This view was clearly enunciated 
by the Christ. He often withheld the highest state- 
ments because his hearers were not ready for them, 
and repeatedly stated that he did so. It is true that 
larger apprehensions of truth require an increase of 
fitting terms to represent them, but complex and occult 
verbosity is to be avoided. If men are unable to reach 
up to abstractions, instruction must reach down, not 
by any admixture of error, but by '' precept upon pre- 
cept ; line upon line • here a little, and there a little." 

The new advance also encounters the usual amount 



22 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

of satire and ridicule which falls to the lot of every 
radical departure from traditionalism. Homoeopathy 
passed through all the same phases, but at length 
fought its way to recognition and standing. Legisla- 
tive attempts to crush therapeutic progress by the 
erection of a medical monopoly have been made in 
several States, but they are so plainly in opposition to 
the spirit of the age, that they have not proved of much 
practical account. It is as foolish and tyrannical to 
erect a monopoly in medicine, as it would be in reli- 
gion, politics, or ethics. The Presbyterian or Baptist 
creeds may as well be legally enforced as that of allop- 
athy. Any institution asking for special legal protec- 
tion cannot seemingly place great reliance upon its 
own merits. Under our form of government individ- 
ual liberty, so long as it does not infringe upon that of 
others, is the chief corner-stone. To impose any 
special system of therapeutic practice upon an indi- 
vidual is clearly unconstitutional. 

Sensational and exa^Sferated accounts of occasional 
failures in the new practice are spread broadcast by the 
daily press, while it is rare that any allusion is made 
to the numerous cures of those who had previously 
exhausted the " regular " systems. While thousands 
of young and robust people die under conventional 
treatment, after short Illnesses, every week, no question 
is raised nor criticism made. No matter what the cir- 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 23 

cumstances may be, if in the " beaten track," every- 
thing is taken for granted. Every one has the right 
to die, if he will only do so according to regulation. 

But failures do occur in mental practice. No matter 
how perfect a principle may be, it cannot have perfect 
application, because of local limitations. The imper- 
fection of the practitioner and the lack of receptivity 
in the patient — to say nothing of surrounding antag- 
onistic thouofht — are limitations. It is not a mere 
question of swallowing a remedy, but certain ideals 
rnust be brought to the front in the minds of both 
healer and patient, and there must be positive co-oper- 
ation. Recovery, as a rule, is progressive growth, and 
is manifested as the ideal mental conditions gradually 
gain supremacy. Many expect sudden and magical 
improvement, and therefore, being disappointed, aban- 
don treatment before a sufficient period has elapsed 
for the legitimate results to appear. Some are uncon- 
sciously non-receptive because of a mental resolution 
that nothing shall in the least disturb their favorite 
creed, opinion, or philosophy. In this way their door 
is unwittingly barred against their own improvement. 
Some are harboring secret sin, or giving place to cur- 
rents of thought colored with selfishness, envy, sen- 
suality, jealousy, or avarice ; and, though unaware of 
the difficulty, their minds are closed against the truth 
which could set them free. That which is distorted 



24 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

cannot in a moment become symmetrical, and even 
after thorough thought-reconstruction, the body cannot 
at once fully conform and change its expression. But 
every faithful compliance with the laws of healing — 
laws which are immutable — will have its legitimate 
effect in the degree that their requirements are com- 
plied with, and this can be depended upon. Limita- 
tions can be overcome, but patient effort is required. 
The ocean of thought-atmosphere in which we live is 
sensuous, and therefore a vast opposing influence — 
real, though intangible — must be surmounted. It is 
easy to float with the tide, but to break away from crys- 
tallized environment demands courage and persist- 
ence. The all-enveloping human thought-currents 
are powerful. Even the Great Exemplar, in some 
places, " could not do many mighty works," because of 
prevailing unbelief. 

Many shrink from such a searching inward recon- 
struction, because they instinctively feel that it will 
reveal them to themselves. They are willing to look 
outward, but cannot abide introspection. 

A prevalent distrust of mental practitioners on ac- 
count of their lack of a course of conventional study, 
especially in pathology, is also quite natural. But it is 
well to remember that in spiritual discernment and 
efficiency " God hath chosen the weak things of the 
world to confound the things which are mighty." A 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 25 

Study of pathology Is a pursuit of abnormity. If mind 
is the field of operation, it is evident that it must be 
kept pure, clean, and entirely free from disorderly and 
diseased pictures. Thoughts, ideals, and suggestions 
must all be of health, perfection, and harmony. It is 
therefore plain, that from the standpoint of mental 
causation, pathological research would not only be use- 
less, but positively harmful. The uniform and only 
diagnosis of the mental healer must be health, really, 
potentially, and inwardly, even though not yet out- 
wardly actualized. He may divine the particular loca- 
tion of the lack of wholeness, but all the more he sees 
and emphasizes the potential and inner perfection of 
that special part or organ. iHe idealizes it as already 
sound, and holds the thought firmly until the patient 
comes into at-one-ment. Thoughts are outlines to be 
filled in, and they must be drawn upon the lines of 
the pure, the true, and the beautiful. 

There is also some prejudice because a majority of 
the exponents and teachers of mental science belong 
to the so-called '' weaker sex." Generally men are 
more intellectual, though less intuitive, than women, 
and they are also much more strongly bound in scho- 
lastic and traditional grooves and systems. '' For the 
v/isdom of this world is foolishness with God." Human 
knowledge is largely theoretical and external, but 
human iiisight, which is generally more acute in the 



26 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

feminine mentality, is more penetrating and exact. 
This is distinctively the woman's age, and the world is 
now beginning to realize the beneficent fruits of her 
recent development and greater freedom. What more 
natural than that the rosy dawn of new esoteric truth 
should soonest be recognized by her more sensitive 
spiritual vision ? 

It is unreasonable and unjust to ignore the testi- 
mony of hundreds and thousands whose lives have 
been saved through the rational employment of mental 
therapeutics. Such testimony is positive in quality, 
unlimited in quantity, high in character, and its vera- 
city should be unquestioned. There is probably no city 
or town of any considerable size in the United States 
where there are not plenty of conclusive examples 
that can easily be found by any impartial investigator. 
By a careful and extensive personal investigation we 
have found that the great majority of those who are 
engaged in teaching health (a better expression 
than healing) were formerly confirmed invalids who 
had exhausted conventional remedies without improve- 
ment before resorting to mental treatment. Upon 
restoration to health they so thoroughly realize the 
merits of the higher thought, that they feel impelled to 
communicate It to others. If one has discovered and 
utilized a great boon, it is both a duty and a privilege 
to tell the news to suffering humanity. It becomes a 



THE OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS. 2/ 

" gospel," or good tidings that cannot be suppressed. 
The allegation sometimes made, that mercenary mo- 
tives are usually foremost, is both unjust and untrue 
as applied to the great majority engaged in this profes- 
sion. Financial considerations, unless entirely subor- 
dinate, would be fatal to success in practice. 

If disease and abnormity, mental and physical, were 
in the process of gradual extermination through con- 
ventional applications, there would be little reason for 
a search for anything better. On the contrary, we find 
that disorders are steadily growing more subtle and 
complex. Specialists multiply, and each finds just 
what he looks for. Not only physicians are increasing 
in number in much greater proportion than the popu- 
lation, but diseases and remedies are also being mul- 
tiplied. The more human abnormity is held up and 
analyzed, the more Its various shades, phases, and com- 
plications become manifest. As our civilization recedes 
from nature, and Artlficlalism in all directions grows 
more pronounced, we become hyper-sensitive to dis- 
cord and morbidity. Insanity, insomnia, and nervous 
degeneration are increasingly prevalent, and even the 
physical senses more than ever before require artifi- 
cial aids and props. We are depending upon the 
Without rather than the Within. These, and other 
related general tendencies might be elaborated and 
proved in detail, but being plainly evident it is 
unnecessary. 



28 



THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 



Under such conditions, if any new philosophy be 
presented which claims rationality and beneficence, is 
it not wise to give it impartial investigation ? In the 
closing decade of the glorious and notable nineteenth 
century can we afford to copy the intolerance of past 
periods, and conclude that Truth is a complete and 
closed revelation ? Why expect new advances in elec- 
tricity and the physical sciences, and at the same time 
deny that in the far more important realm of man's 
interior life and nature there is anything better for him 
than the universal discord and disorder of the past ? 
If but a small part of the claims of advanced mental 
science be realized, the world greatly needs all it can 
possibly get. If anything promises to lighten the great 
aggregation of woe that hangs like a black cloud over 
the whole human horizon, it should at least be fairly 
examined and tested before condemnation. 



THE BODY. 



II. 

THE BODY. 

*' For cf the soule the bodie forme doth take ; 
For soule is forme, and doth the bodie make." 

The human body is a holy temple. The external 
sanctuary of the soul, unlike temples made with hands, 
is built from within. It is the acme of God's material 
handiwork ; the masterpiece of the Divine Architect. 
The living statue is modelled and shaped with tran- 
scendent delicacy, grace, and symmetry. It is a cos- 
mos in miniature; an epitome of the natural universe. 
Robing, as it does, the offspring of the Infinite, it is 
hallowed and sanctified. The breath of God has gently 
swept through its aisles and corridors and dedicated it 
as His own cathedral. Its walls and towers are built 
of living stones. Something has been taken from 
every known substance and blended in beautiful and 
harmonious proportion to form the finished structure. 
From its deep recesses the aortal organ sends out its 
rhythmical energy, which penetrates every highway and 
byway to the utmost limits. Its drum-beat never tires, 



32 THE LAWS OF MEA'TAL HEALIXG. 

and its measured pulsation is unceasing. Five temple 
gates open outward into highways which extend to the 
world of form, and throuo^h them messao^es and freiehts 
are o-oinor and cominor in endless succession. 

The body is a superlative example of co-operation ; 
a general partnership where each member holds a 
unique office. It unceasingly works, not so much for 
itself as for all the others. Each one is an example of 
altruistic energy and ministry. Every tissue and mole- 
cule is on the alert, and its part is promptly and intelli- 
gently performed. All are good, for each is divinely 
perfect, and therefore the various offices of the mem- 
bers are alike honorable. Any seeming dishonor is 
onlv an abuse and deorradation of that which has 
received Christly consecration. Says Paul in his 
letter to the Romans, " Nothing is unclean of itself: 
save to him that accounteth anvthinor to be unclean, to 
him it is unclean." All God's creations are good, and 
all impurity exists only in the perverted human con- 
sciousness. This beautiful and perfect instrument is 
the ideal human body, untouched by abnormity^ 

But turning from the normal and ideal to actualized 
expression, we find the instrument discordant and 
unreliable. Instead of exercising sweet ministry, it 
at length demands to be constantly pampered and 
indulged. It insists upon much consideration, flat- 
tery, and idolizing, and finally mounts the throne as 



THE BODY. 33 

a capricious monarch. It compels homage ; refuses 
to render reasonable co-operation, and, if its sway 
continues, finally destroys all harmony and revels in 
discord. 

God made man a " living soul," and therefore he is 
a soul, not has a soul. His body is a temporary mate- 
rial correspondence ; a set of instruments for his con- 
venience on the plane of sense. Through their use, 
the real man — who can never be seen or heard — trans- 
lates and manifests himself outwardly. 

Just behind the seen and material human organism 
there is a sensuous mind, the most outer and fleshly 
of the immaterial part, which pertains especially to the 
body and acts directly upon it. Next within is the 
intellectual zone, and still deeper, in the innermost, 
is the spiritual ego, the divine image. This is the 
Christ-plane, where dwells the perfect humanity. Here 
should be the throne and abiding-place of the con- 
sciousness. When there seated its primal spiritual 
•energy is radiated, and it shines through, controls and 
harmonizes, the lower planes and expressions. When 
thus dominated, these inferior domains, in their own 
order and place, are concordant and symmetrical. 

When from ignorance or perversion the human con- 
sciousness builds its tabernacle in the outer and infe- 
rior planes of its organism, the result is inversion. 
That which otherwise would be orderly becomes 



34 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

chaotic. This abnormal inward condition finds out- 
ward expression in sin, suffering, dis-ease, and all kinds 
of inharmony. It has reversed the divine order, and 
the "day of judgment," when the inner tribunal renders 
its righteous verdict of condemnation, has come. To 
satisfy this judgment and restore harmony through the 
resumption of the true and normal ideal, is the aim and 
object of mental and spiritual science. 

Matter is only a form of expression, and has no char- 
acter or basis of its own. It is '' clay in the hands of 
the potter," never an actor, but only acted upon. It 
appears, disappears, and reappears only to outwardly 
articulate different qualities and grades of life. Life, 
or spirit, is the only intrinsic reality. The physical 
man is merely the outpicturing of his inner and intrin- 
sic counterpart. The body is a grand composite pho- 
tograph of previous thinking and mental states. It is 
" a livino- episde known and read of all men." Owing 
to the great complexity and apparent slowness — by 
our sensuous measurement— of the prindng process 
on the outer form, its vital relation to the inner type 
has not been superficially evident. It is quite true 
that the model has received some early color and bias 
from heredity, but this does not in any way affect the 
order of manifestation, which is uniformly from within 

outward. 

If bodily harmony or inharmony be the natural and 



THE BODY. 35 

direct result of the past prevailing quality of thought, 
it is at once evident that the only normal and scientific 
healing agency is resident in mentality. No stream 
can possess purity unless its fountain be pure. 
There is no exception to the rule that to modify or 
correct any effect we should address ourselves to the 
cause. It is also rational and scientific to carefully dis- 
criminate between primary and secondary causation. 
The latter is really not causation at all, but only a link 
in the chain of orderly sequence. Through the whole 
cosmos of God, cause and effect are bound by a tie 
that no man can sever. 

It follows that notwithstanding materia medica may 
be respectable and '' regular," its logical assumption is 
fallacious. It lacks an exact and scientific basis. It is 
an antiquated experimental system of modifying and 
dealing with results. It zvould be reasonable, provided 
that the soul (man) were a function of body. Its 
philosophy can only be interpreted by the assumption 
that such is the case. Where would this hypothesis 
lead ? It is evident that the functions of anything 
cannot outlast the thing itself, because they depend 
upon it and have no basis of their own. When the 
body dissolves, its functions or exercises must also per- 
ish. This is blank materialism wdth no immortality of 
spirit. With the utmost liberality of interpretation it 
seems impossible to discover any other alternative. 



36 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEaLLNG. 

Materia medica is a complicated cumulative structure 
of formula, which assumes a resident energy in mate- 
rial objects which have no life or force in themselves 
wherewith to add to the vigor of the human organism. 
God's life or spirit in man — conventionally called 
" nature " — will always express itself healthfully when 
unobstructed. " Loose him and let him go." 

Surgery is an exact science in which there has been 
great advances in the recent past. ( The surgeon is a 
mechanical expert who with great skill adjusts the 
parts, and then the divine recuperative forces vitalize 
and accomplish the work. Without these forces all 
the surgeons in the world could not heal the smallest 
cut. ' 

Newly discovered material remedies while fashion- 
able and much in the public mind have some power, 
but as they recede their efficacy actually seems to fade 
away. This suggests that their potency resides more 
in their mental accessories than in the drug. Some- 
times, through personal belief, a " bread-pill " proves to 
be a powerful cathartic, but only general belief would 
insure uniform results. The "discovery" of a remedy 
is generally in the nature of a chance, or an experi- 
ment, thus possessing but a very slight original basis ; 
but cumulative belief gradually adds and confers power 
which is not inherent. Good remedies should remain, 
but as a matter of fact they pass rapidly by in an end- 



THE BODY. 37 

less procession. Fashions and fads — of which the 
** Elixir of Life " and " Lymph " are recent examples — 
are no less capricious in medicine than elsewhere, and 
nowhere do they reign with more autocratic sway. 
Diagnosis, and even death itself, is somewhat subject 
to fashion and conventionalism. At the present time 
the correct exit seems to be via " heart-failure." 

A great variety of unconscious mental influences 
and accessories surround the drug and subtly clothe it 
with power. Among them may be mentioned the psy- 
chological influence of the physician, conscious and 
unconscious ; the trust and confidence of the patient ; 
individual and general belief in the mysterious power 
of the prescription, together with the elements of faith, 
imagination, hope, and expectation secretly at work in 
the minds of patient and friends ; and last, but by no 
means least, beneficent mother *' Nature," which is 
really Miiid below the surface of consciousness. The 
patient recovers, and the result is credited to the drug. 
If it were possible to thoroughly eliminate all these 
enumerated accessories, then, aiid then only, could its 
inherent power for good be ascertained. But we may 
fancy that we have a crucial test in the cases of infants, 
the sleeping, insane, or idiotic, who are incapable of 
knowledge or mental operation. Not in the least. 
By well-ascertained psychological law, all these influ- 
ences are so present in the psychic atmosphere that they 



3S THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

impress themselves upon unconscious mentality, and 
most of all upon the sensitive and passive mind of an 
infant. 

It may be admitted that the great ami)- of material 
props cannot be ruthlessly swept away until something 
higher replaces them in human consciousness. There 
is an unconscious homage paid to whatever seems to 
possess power ; therefore, almost universal material- 
istic thought mistakenly locates energy in sensuous 
objects. These are not real forces, but only the phe- 
nomena of forces. However, from the outlook of the 
plane of sense, nothing higher can come into the field 

of vision. The two kincrdoms are distinct. 

<_> 

In the general criticism of a " system " there is no 
disparagement cast upon the honest)- and ability of its 
professional exponents. It has been handed down, and 
they cannot be held responsible for it. As rapidly as 
is practicable they are outgrowing its limitations. As 
a rule they are professionally much in advance of their 
creed, while for the personal qualities of devotion, self- 
sacrifice, honor, and courage, they are the peers of any 
other class or profession. They naturalh' fill a demand 
which has existed, and will exist for some time to come. 
In the economv of evolution evervthinor comes and 
goes at the proper time, and therefore materia 7nedica 
should and will keep its place until the world is ripe 
for something higher. It is therefore not " bad," but 



THE BODY. 39 

only a passing stage. Each stage forms a terrace from 
which the next step higher can be reached. 

It is often claimed by those who believe in the 
special and " supernatural," and who profess to worship 
one Great Force, — " and Him only," — that we should 
use " divinely bestowed means," and then pray that 
the '' means " should be blessed. But there is no war- 
rant for the assumption that drugs are " means " in 
any true sense. They will not sever cause and effect, 
nor make an atonement for violated divine order. If 
we are out of the path which has been made smooth 
for us by law, — complied with, — we must come back 
again. If we have crossed its righteous lines we shall 
be goaded — and that beneficently and correctively — 
until we again parallel them. The crossing of lines 
signifies subsequent crucifixion. 

Another assumption often put forth Is, that there is 
a correspondence between food and drugs. Not so. 
One is normal, the other abnormal ; one contains 
nourishment, the other does not ; one furnishes natu- 
ral material for the life-forces to grasp and build up, 
the other proposes to alter and correct the life-forces 
themselves. Can they ever be wrong ? They are the 
divine energy in humanity and never need correction. 
This vital force being immutably accurate, only requires 
that we remove obstructions and come into at-one- 
ment with it, in order that it may have free course. 



40 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

There is a mistaken idea that the drug, by some mys- 
terious magic, will remove penalty. Food meets a 
normal demand ; not to add more life, but to furnish 
material for life's outward expression. As the drug is 
not needed for any such purpose, its presence is an 
anomaly. There is but One Force, and to create other 
forces — which is possible only in the consciousness — 
is in the nature of idolatry. 

The power of mind over matter is a trite expression 
often employed ; but, like many other abstract state- 
ments, its great utility has hardly been dreamed of by 
the world in general. We " look on things after the 
outward appearance," but in reality that which is before 
us is only symptomatic. As well try to suppress heat 
without extinguishing the flame, as to truly heal by 
merely restraining expressive sequence. 

Human pride naturally seeks for the causation of 
its ills from without. It is interesting to note the pro- 
lific ingenuity which shifts all responsibility upon 
external things. One would naturally conclude that 
He who made the air, water, climate, heat and cold, 
cloud and sunshine, had made innumerable mistakes. 
These elements are often regarded as unfriendly, and 
they have a variety of deadly qualities gratuitously 
linked to them by human ignorance and perversity. 
God's creations are all good ; but when they are antag- 
onized they become, to us, subjectively evil- As we 



THE BODY. 41 

make them unfriendly, to us they are unfriendly. "As 
a man thinketh so is he." Just here is the weak point 
in formulated modern hygiene — so called. Though 
it is a great advance upon the drug, it emphasizes out- 
side conditions. Not that we should disregard rea- 
sonable and common- sense regulations, but that the 
supreme dependence should be within. The true 
ideal is to get gradually less and less dependent upon 
externals, so as not to always act " under the circum- 
stances." 

An invalid is sent to some country with a mild cli- 
mate, or induced to visit a German spa, and an im- 
provement is the result. Thought which has been 
centred upon the body and its inharmonies is diverted 
into new channels, therefore the body is loosed from 
its pressure, and its inward energy and elasticity cause 
a rebound towards health. It is unnecessary to ob- 
serve that the climate and the spa receive all the credit. 

It is significant that the normal constitution and laws 
of the human mind require that it be centred upon 
the highest and the inmost. Man will be restless until 
he learns to rest his thinking upon God, and that not 
alone objectively, but upon His. image within. By a 
singular infatuation, and in disregard of universal hu- 
man experience, men continue to look for satisfac- 
tion and fulness in the external. Material scientific 
progress is the great ignis fatuus which is supposed 



42 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

to lead to a prospective Golden Age or general mii- 
lenium. 

It is physiological fact, that when thought, for any 
length of time, is concentrated upon any part of the 
body, it causes an increased flow of circulation in that 
direction. Abnormal conditions manifested by the 
body are always the result — even though not directly 
traceable — of past perverted mental conditions. Sur- 
face indications are utterly unreliable in locating in- 
herent causation. 

Asceticism was a mistake, or, at most, only a half 
truth. The body is not a thing to be repressed and 
mortified, for the reason that it is inherently good. 
When the conscious life-energy and thought has its 
chief outlet and exercise through the higher and spir- 
itual nature, the body will need neither watching nor 
repressing. As a subordinate, it will be divinely har- 
monious. " Take no thought for your body." Thought 
centred upon the body presses downwards and ob- 
structs its harmonious and free expression. 

The hyper-sensitive victim of drafts or indigestion 
increases his morbidity every hour that he feels him- 
self to be the victim of these conditions. Dwelling 
in \}l\^ feelings of the body is only a false and animal- 
ized sense of life. It puts man upon a low plane, 
where he meets, absorbs, and subjects himself to all 
the multitudinous disorders that have been built up in 



THE BODY. 43 

human consciousness. He should make his home in 
soul ; ill the body, but not of it ; and this will give him 
such a grasp and control of his corporeal structure that it 
will not be open to every discordant wave that is wafted 
towards him in the sensuous atmosphere. The body 
was not intended to be an opaque shell to obstruct the 
inner light, but rather the pure crystal through which 
the rays shine out, beautifying itself and illuminating 
its related environment. 



THE POWER OF THOUGHT. 



IIL 



THE POWER OF THOUGHT. 



"Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the process 
by which human ends are ultimately answered/' 

At no previous time have the influence and potency 
of thought received such careful and discriminating 
investigation as is now being centred upon it. While 
a few seers of keen and intuitive perception have 
grasped the great fact that thought is the universal 
substance and basis of all things, never until the 
present era has this vital truth penetrated the more 
general consciousness. 

The thought or volition of God is the basis of all 
phenomena ; and man is now learning that his own 
thought-power is a force, the intensity and utility of 
which has been almost undreamed of. The intuitive 
comprehension of this truth is no longer limited to a 
Plato, Paul, or Emerson, but is grasped by many minds 
who are striving to give it articulation. 

If man be the "offspring" of God, made "in His 
image," what more natural than that some thought- 

47 



48 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

correspondence should exist between them ? The 
search-hght of an intelHgent and earnest desire for 
universal law — as a great harmonious unit — is beino- 
turned upon many problems which have been reo-arded 
as settled, and they are receiving a careful and scien- 
tific reconsideration such as heretofore has been im- 
possible. Many dogmatic formulas and theories have 
been built up, and, when they have become hoary and 
respectable, it has been assumed that if any facts did 
not fit them, so much the worse for the facts. They 
w^ere at once waived aside as unworthy of investiga- 
tion. Whether or not it were possible, everything 
had to be bent to conform to what Authority thought 
truth ought to be. Shackles of tradition and intoler- 
ance are now loosened, and it is possible to make a full 
search not only for phenomena, but for the soul and 
causation which lie hidden back of them. The stiff 
and un)'ielding forms of antiquated and external insti- 
tutions are softening, and responsiveness and recep- 
tivity to truth is the result. 

Two great groups of forces are striving for mastery. 
On one side is ranged *' realism," pessimism, and the 
Without ; and against them, idealism, optimism, and 
the Within — a war of " Gog and Magog." From the 
dawn of human history, with a local and partial excep- 
tion in the times of the primitive church, the forces 
of the Without have held sway ; but now the legions of 



THE POWER OF THOUGHT. 49 

the Within and the Ideal are mustering in unparalleled 
power. 

A general line of cleavage is running through religi- 
ous denominations, therapeutic systems, governmental 
and economic theories, temperance, and ethics. The 
great opposing powers are not personalities, but 
thought-qualities, and therefore the warfare is located 
entirely within the confines of mind. 

The kingdom over which human thought is the right- 
ful sovereign is primarily subjective ; but through its 
objective relations its reign is projected outward. Being 
a positive active force, it shapes and controls matter, 
which is only passive material, powerless and inert. 
As human thought traces, follows out, and harmonizes 
with the divine thought-pattern, it takes on wonderful 
potency. It becomes re-enforced and indorsed by that 
almighty power of the divine economy called Law. 

In the human physical organism thought is at work, 
like a carpenter in a house, either building up or pull- 
ing down. Thought, or thought-quality, gives tone 
and character to all the chemical changes and trans- 
mutations which continually go on within the bodily 
structure. Materialism recognizes the mind as a 
bodily function, thinking as cerebration, and ideas 
as brain secretion. Were this a fact, mind could never 
exist apart from its physical base. 
(It is true that we do not consciously direct our diges- 



50 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

tion, assimilation, heart-action, or breathing ; but we 
must not forget that the consciousness which is on the 
surface is only the merest fraction of the great stored- 
up sub-conscious deeps of the mental reservoir. The 
life-forces operate with supreme exactness and intelli- 
crence, and there can be no intelligence without mind. 
The wonderful complexity, accuracy, and delicacy of 
our deeper unappreciated mental operations would as- 
tound us, were we able to behold and analyze them. 
But though we cannot consciously explore our own 
mental recesses, we can trace and understand the laws 
which govern their courses and activities. The most 
fundamental of these laws relating to thought-sequence 
is, that the body is a general expression of the quality 
of past thinking, not merely of yesterday, last week, or 
last year, but of its composite for the past life. 

This stored-up mental reservoir is a submerged per- 
sonality which thinks, reasons, loves, fears, believes, 
accepts, and draws conclusions beneath and indepen- 
dent of consciousness. It is this, and not the matter of 
the body, that takes disease or contagion when the 
conscious ego is unaware of exposure. It is through 
this mind that medicines, and even poisons, produce 
their effect, instead of through chemical action, as is usu- 
ally supposed. The absence of any such "chemical 
action " when these things are put into a " dead "body 
(body with mind removed) shows this conclusively. < 



77//: POWER OF TIIOrGII'J'. 5 1 

The usual sequential effects cannot come to the body 
directly, but must come through the pathway of mind. 
The hidden or great / recognizes the quality or 
potency which general belief, and past subjective 
assent and consent to such belief, has linked to the 
so-called chemical agents or remedies, and it there- 
fore responds. 

; This deeper or trans-conscious mind can only be 
gradually changed, and that by means of a stream of 
changed conscious thinking, which must be poured in 
for a considerable time. It may be compared to a cis- 
tern into which a small stream of turbid water has been 
flowing for a long period, until the process has ren- 
dered the whole contents turbid. Now begin to turn 
in a stream of pure sparkling water, and gradually the 
character of the whole aggregation will be changed. 
Just so by a controlled thinking power we can now 
begin to rectify the reservoir of mind by turning in a 
stream of pure wholesome thought, until the quality of 
the whole is purified. When this has been thoroughly 
accomplished the deeper ego will not accept or fear 
disease and contaeion, but will ^o amono^ them un- 
scathed. Realizing the importance of a rectification, 
we should each lose no time in turning such a spark- 
ling rill of positive thought into the submerged men- 
tality, as will make it grow clearer and stronger, so that 
when disorder or inharmony knocks at its door, it will 



52 THE LAWS OF MEA^TAL HEALING. 

respond : Depart ; I never knew you ! The recognition 
of man's two differing minds, and a reasonable dis- 
crimination between their provinces and operations, 
explains a great mass of phenomena otherwise unin- 
telligible. 

The idealism of to-day is entirely different from that 
of the past. It was formerly speculative, capricious, 
and unreliable, because of the creneral non-recoenition 
of law. This was largely the case even so recently as 
the days of Bishop Berkeley, and, to quite a degree, 
even in the times of our own Emerson. But under 
the reign of the ascertained Order it becomes exact 
and scientific. Utilit)' is the watchword of the present 
age. What is idealism good for? Does it lift up hu- 
manity and restore weak minds and disordered bodies ? 
, We find that the great force called thought has sci- 
entific relations, correlations, and transmutations ; that 
its vibrations project themselves in waves through the 
ether, regardless of distance and other sensuous limita- 
tions ; that they strike unisons in other minds and make 
them vibrant ; that they relate themselves to like and 
are repelled by the unlike ; that their silent though 
forceful impact makes a distinct impression ; in fact, 
that they are substantial entities, in comparison with 
which gold, silver, and iron are as evanescent as the 
morning dew. 

When we learn the laws which govern any force, we 



THE POIVBIR OF TH OUGHT. 53 

tame and harness it for service. Electricity has been 
waiting to serve us since the days of the pre-Adamites, 
but until now it has waited in vain, because of the 
entire lack of the scientific application of law. Every 
conceivable force and phenomenon, when traced back, 
has for its original basis, Mind in operation ; and this 
activity is regular, orderly, and to be relied upon. 

Turning more directly to thought-power as both the 
producer and healer of disease, the recognition of its 
laws of operation have a striking correspondence, in 
their newly discovered utility, to those of electricity. 
While prevailing conventionalism welcomes the service 
of the cruder force, it looks with suspicion upon the 
higher, being but dimly aware of its great possibilities. 

Thought always seeks embodiment. The thought 
of the engineer materializes in the completed engine, 
and that of the architect in the finished building. Both 
of these thought-forms will outlast their external 
expression, because they are built of more durable 
material. 

^Medical annals are crowded with examples of the 
disastrous effects upon the human organism of fear, 
anger, envy, jealousy, worry, hate, and other abnormal 
passions and emotions. No fact is better understood 
than that these qualities of thought pull down, disin- 
tegrate and paralyze the physical forces and nerve 
centres. Even false philosophies, mediaeval theologies, 



54 THE LA WS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

false conceptions of God, and especially the belief of 
the general doctrine of endless vindictive punishment, 
make their unwholesome influence felt in every bodily 
tissue. Pride, ambition, selfishness, and pessimism 
tend to the disturbance of many delicate physical pro- 
cesses, which finally result in chronic and even acute 
disorders. Anger suspends digestion, acidulates the 
blood, and dries up the secretions. 

It is said that Swedenborg, when under inspirational 
conditions, could see that the deviating quality of 
thought changed the action of the lungs, the heart, the 
stomach, the liver, and kidneys with kaleidoscopic quick- 
ness and in exact correspondence. Man often has 
fear stamped upon him before his entrance into the 
outer world ; he is reared in fear ; all his life is passed 
in bondage to fear of sickness and death, and thus his 
whole mentality becomes cramped, limited, and de- 
pressed, and his body follows its shrunken pattern and 
specification. 

What could be expected after generations of chronic 
sinful, fearful, antagonistic, selfish thought, clouded 
still more deeply by mental pictures of an angry God 
and endless hell, authoritatively proclaimed as solemn 
and terrible realities ? Think of the millions of sensi- 
tive and responsive souls among our ancestors who 
have been under the dominion of such a perpetual 
nightmare ! Is it not surprising that health exists at 



THE POWER OF 77/OCG//T. 55 

all ? Nothing but the boundless divine love, exuber- 
ance, and vitality, constantly poured in, even though 
unconsciously to us, could in some degree neutralize 
such an ocean of morbidity. 

Notwithstanding the well-understood power of abnor- 
mal thouorht in disintes^ratino- the human oror-anism, the 
corresponding opposite seems to have been ignored 
by the regular schools. It is logical and natural to 
look for opposite results from opposite causes. It fur- 
ther seems to have been assumed that humanity has 
no control over its thinking ; that the thought-motor 
drifts like a helpless craft on every current and eddy, 
and that it must necessarily take aboard all the rubbish 
that floats in the vicinity. It is only ignorance and 
weak self-limitation in man that gives the reins to 
thought, and allows it to carry him as a captive into 
all the morbid negations and inversions that open to 
his distorted gaze. Perverted thought so abuses its 
sacred office that it goes out of its way to seek out the 
bitter, the misshapen, and the abominable. It almost 
revels in the unnatural and chaotic. It builds its sub- 
jective structures from its ruling consciousness, and 
subjectivity and objectivity act and react each upon 
the other. It often feeds upon '' realistic" and debas- 
ing fiction, under the delusion that it is " artistic." It 
entertains sensuous mental pictures, though worldly 
policy and outward respectability may restrain their 



56 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

external expression. The bitter fruit of such thinking 
does not come immediately, but, 

'• Though the mills of God grind slowly, 
Yet they grind exceeding small.'" 

The seed sown brings forth its own kind. The " day 
of judgment " comes on apace. Not a great general 
assize, where sentence is arbitrary and from without, 
but a self-imposed hellish condition within, which benef- 
icently punishes to prevent man from going on to the 
length of self-destruction. Perverted thought makes 
a saving and indispensable education and evolution 
severe in attainment and dear in price. 

Good seed no less certainly will produce a crop of 
its own quality. If bad thought will pull down, good 
thought will harmonize and build up ; in fact, the o-ood 
is infinitely more powerful, for it has the divine basis 
of reality. Perverted thought, though subjectively 
real, is only a distortion and a delusion. It may tem- 
porarily fill the mental horizon, but it has no abiding 
basis. All the real forces in the universe are workino- 
for good. The sequential pain -penalty of perverted 
thought, though intense, is kindly, because it is not 
vindictive, and possesses only a corrective significance. 

We should think just as though our thoughts were 
visible to all about us. Real character is not outward 
conduct, but quality of thinking. The teaching of the 
Great Exemplar on this point was positive, but the 



T^HE POWER OE 77/OrGHT. $y 

world has ignored its scientific exactness. If bad think- 
ing be so disastrous to the mental and physical organ- 
ism, it is a question of supreme importance how it may 
be improved and reformed. 

Thought is not uow under perfect control because 
of past bad thinking habits. While to some extent 
thought-pictures unbidden, and even unwelcome, may 
thrust themselves before the mind's eye, we need not 
sit still and passively gaze upon them. If we have 
been drifting, we must grasp the helm, man the oars, 
and drift no longer. If positive and wholesome occu- 
pants take up their abode in the mental chambers, 
those of unwholesome quality will vacate. Every 
cherished ideal adds a tinge of its own hue and quality. 
There is no more of the element of chance in the 
outcome than in the solution of a mathematical 
problem. 

'' High, healthful, pure thinking can be encouraged, 
promoted, and strengthened. Its current can be turned 
upon grand ideals until it forms a habit and wears a 
channel. By means of such discipline the mental 
horizon can be flooded with the sunshine of beauty, 
wholeness, and harmony. To inaugurate pure and 
lofty thinking may at first seem difficult, even almost 
mechanical, but perseverance will at length render it 
easy, then pleasant, and finally delightful./ 

. The soul's real world is that which it has built of its 



58 THE LAWS OF MEA^TAL HEALING. 

thoughts, mental states, and imaginations. Our divine 
heritage of creative energy gives us the power to 
mvoke and uprear a mental structure either symmetri- 
cal or deformed. If we will, we can turn our backs 
upon the lower and sensuous plane, and lift ourselves 
into the realm of the spiritual and Real, and there 
" gain a residence." The assumption of states of 
expectancy and receptivity will attract spiritual sun- 
shine, and it will flow in as naturally as air inclines 
to a vacuum. 

We must refuse mental standing-room to discord, and 
by right thinking call into existence a wholesome and 
inspiring environment. Think no evil, and have eyes 
only for the good. Optimism is of God, and it stimu- 
lates and attracts its possessor along the upward road 
towards the ideal and the perfect. Pessimism creates 
and multiplies unwholesome conditions, and galvanizes 
them into apparent life. 

Not only thought-exercises, usually classed as sinful, 
are to be displaced, but concepts of disorder, deform- 
ity, and mortality should also be barred out. The 
mental photography of crime, evil, and disease pre- 
sented in bold head-lines by the sensational press 
should receive a discriminating and righteous condem- 
nation. 

Disease primarily is only a mental spectre, but it 
constantly inclines to bring forth an outward and 



THE POWER OF THOUGHT. 59 

visible progeny. A conscious fear of any particular 
disorder is not necessary to its production, but the 
general acceptance of disease as an entity, together 
with unconscious fear, — hereditary, or taken on from 
environment, — puts us on its general plane, and then 
it may embody any one of its many forms. It is not 
a creation of God, but a product of false and inverted 
human thought. It has only that power with which 
traditional theories, beliefs, and fears have crowned it. 
It is an inheritance built up of falsities and delusions ; a 
cumulative structure of morbid impressions seen in the 
illusive atmosphere of ignorance and sensuousness. 
It owes its existence entirely to abnormal usurpation. 
Man must free himself from " the law of sin and death," 
by grasping his higher and spiritual selfhood ; and this 
is no impossible or chimerical attainment. 

While during this generation none may fully attain 
the pure ideal, on account of the great ocean of sur- 
rounding materialism in which all are immersed, yet 
even now enough is practical to prove the mathemati- 
cal exactness of the principle, and that health and 
wholeness are teachable and have an absolute educa- 
tional and scientific basis. Past thought has limited 
us in all directions. We have tethered ourselves to 
self-imposed posts by imaginary cords. 

But the general thought-atmosphere is growing 
purer, and the increasing number of those who live in 



6o 



THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALIXG. 



the higher consciousness will render ideal attainment 
less difficult in the future. It is morally certain that 
during the twentieth century the dark clouds of sin, 
disease, and death will be dispelled to an amazing 
degree. 

/ It is better to study health than abnormity, because 
all thought-pictures press for outward expression. To 
advertise and emphasize disease by dividing, subdivid- 
ing, and multiplying its phenomena, and by giving it 
formidable and scientific (?) names, is the mistake of 
the ages. No sculptor or architect would ever make 
any progress towards perfection were he to spend his 
whole time in a study of imperfect and deformed 
models. The quality of thought sent out by pathology 
only adds to the burdens which already press heavy 
upon humanity. It is a well-known fact that medical 
students are often subject to attacks of the special 
diseases which they are studying. A formal diagnosis 
often stamps its unwholesome verdict upon the patient. 
He sees the specification, accepts it, embodies it, and 
thus fully fills its outline. One feels a little palpitation 
of the heart. A formal and solemn diagnosis suggests 
probable Yv^'scc'i- disease, and at every turn he is cau- 
tioned — to beware ! A current of fear and abnormal 
thought is turned upon the aortal organ, and the very 
prognostication further deranges its action. Such 
a heartfci" procedure, though " regular," deserv^es 



THE POWER OE THOUGHT. 6 1 

thoroucrh condemnation. Even when friends are 
informed and the patient kept in ignorance, the mis- 
chief is not much lessened, because the very thought- 
atmosphere is diseased, i To announce to a sensitive 
patient that a fever is likely, at once raises the pulse, 
and there it is — by appointment. Even to name the 
disease to an invalid, especially if it be designated by a 
high-sounding scientific (?) or Latin term, gives it not 
only character, but standing./ 

The individual ideal, as also that of the true healer, 
is to wash the mind clean of all spectres of abnormity, 
and fill it with pictures of health, beauty, symmetry, 
strength, purity, and earnest aspiration towards perfec- 
tion. Like all truth, they will press towards outward 
symmetrical embodiment. 

The most thorough and impartial investigation 
proves that thought is the veritable organizer of all 
physical conditions. To add to the vitality of our ma- 
terial tabernacle, we must radiate true thouofht from 
its inner potential fountain, until it thrills the whole 
organism. Thus the spiritual Innermost of man, the 
Christ which is " The Word," is made flesh, or comes 
into externals. Thus the Word is " spoken," for from 
thought within it becomes articulate without. But it 
must be unmixed with doubt, fear, and faithlessness ; 
therefore, '' speak the word 07ily, and thy servant shall 
be healed." 



^2 THE LA IVS OF MENTAL LIEALLNG. 

The whole product of God's creative thought was 
pronounced good. In the measure that man proceeds 
on the divine plan he not only will '' think no evil," 
but will specify and uprear the good, the true, and the 
beautiful. 



PLANES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 



i 



IV. 

PLANES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 

The nature of man is complex. In the ascending 
evolutionary scale his physical organism stands upon 
the fifth great plane, having been preceded by the 
elementary, chemical, vegetal, and animal subdivisions. 
He is now evolving a spiritual faculty, which is re- 
garded as a sixth plane or state of consciousness, and 
has within him the germ of a seventh, as a final su- 
preme attainment. The sixth order or sense is also 
denominated the intuition ; and the seventh, the 
divine, or Christ-plane, where man meets God and 
becomes at one with him. 

Some of the esoteric systems of the Orient find 
seven elements in Man, in the following ascending 
order : first, the physical organism ; second, the vital- 
ity ; third, the astral body ; fourth, the animal soul ; 
fifth, the intelligent or human soul ; sixth, the spirit- 
ual soul ; seventh, the divine soul, or God-conscious- 
ness. Other systems count but fivQ grades or planes 
in the human economy, making the distinctions a little 
broader than those just enumerated. 

65 



66 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALLNG. 

But In this work, as no study of occultism or the- 
osophy is proposed, every practical purpose will be 
subserved by a consideration of the three great planes 
of human consciousness, with which all are familiar. 
They may be defined as the sensuous nature, or physi- 
cal consciousness ; the intellectual talent, or reasoning 
consciousness ; and the intuitive faculty, or spiritual 
consciousness. This trinity forms the individual unity, 
the soul of man, or, more correctly, man. 

Consciousness may be described as the relation of 
the ego to its immediate thought-environment. The 
occupant of a three-story house may use either floor 
as his permanent abiding-place, or may move about, 
dividing his time between them. The human ego has 
the freedom and range of its threefold kingdom, cir- 
cumscribed and limited only by the growth of habit and 
inclination. The lower or sensuous realm is not evil, 
but intrinsically good in its own order and place. For 
all normal and wholesome purposes the ego does, and 
should, visit and occupy the lower story of its nature, 
for such occupation is lawful and orderly. But the 
infinite wdsdom and beneficence of the Creator, in the 
economy of man, as elsewhere, provides for a regular 
and beautiful method of progress, and this must be 
observed in order to a harmonious and perfect fruition. 
It is provided, that in the various departments of 
human consciousness, the ego must make constant 



PLANES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 6/ 

progress In Its residential preferences, from the lower 
towards the higher, otherwise arrested development, 
inharmony, dis-ease, and finally Inversion, take place. 
\{ the occupant become enamoured with the sensuous 
attractions and delights of the lower apartments, or 
even linger too long midway, losing through Inertia or 
habit the earnest desire to go higher and *' gain a resi- 
dence," a course of degeneration sets In. 

The ruling daily and hourly consciousness Is all the 
time building up the soul-structure with material of Its 
own quality. The great majority of the human family 
are strangers in the supreme zone of their natures, and 
remain persistently below, until forced upwards by the 
discomfort and decay which they invite by arresting 
development. Many who rarely mount above, are 
almost unaware of the existence of their upper, sunny 
apartments, or at least have no appreciation of their 
beauty and healthfulness. 

The great distinguishing feature of the sensuous 
consciousness Is that it practically views the material 
body as the self. This radical mistake is the great 
ground-current which galvanizes into life and activity 
all human miseries, abnormities, and dis-eases, men- 
tal and physical. If the ego roams In the murky 
atmosphere of this low plane, which Is Impenetrable to 
the sunlight from above, a host of negative phantoms 
shadows, and spectres take on veritable reality and 



68 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

overwhelming power. In the measure that conscious- 
ness hves, moves, and has its abiding-place among the 
hollow forms of sense, it relates itself to, and depends 
upon, the external system which we call Nature, and 
therefore falls into subjection to outward environment. 
This constitutes the "natural" or Adamic man, or, as 
denominated by Paul, the carnal man. In his consti- 
tution are located sin, disorder, and all inharmony. 
When the eo^o is aroused and lifted to the realm of the 
spiritual life, into the presence of the divine image 
within, there comes the possession of a legitimate su- 
premacy over sense-relations and material thraldom. 

The overcoming of disease is not the chief and pri- 
mary object in the aspiration to spiritual consciousness, 
but only incidental to such a new order of relationship. 
The divine spirit is an educator; " He will guide you 
into all truth." As man listens to the voice within, the 
outer chorus of discordant noises is hushed, and there 
come peace and harmony. This is the Christ-princi- 
ple, '' the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Man's way 
to find God, and all God-like wholeness, is through 
the Christ in himself. The church early lost the apos- 
tolic life and healing power, because of the substitution 
of ecclesiastical and external authority for the inward 
oracle and divine illumination. She exchano-ed tran- 
scendent power, vitality, and all their outward expres- 
sive attestations, for external ceremonialism, pomp, and 



FLAXES OF CO/VSC/OC/SjVFSS. 69 

ritual, and was thus shorn of her primal strength. She 
still clings tenaciously to the local and historic inspira- 
tion and experience, therefore her li/e is in the past. 
If life were ever inspired it should be inspired now, 
for the Christ spirit and quality are as truly living as 
when incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth. 

The illuminated spiritual consciousness does not dis- 
parage any legitimate intellectual pursuit, or under- 
value scientific, artistic, or industrial professions and 
occupations, but rather ennobles, gilds, and refines 
them. All that is true in nature, science, religion, 
and inspiration, is in perfect accord, for all the dif- 
ferent sides of Truth supplement and indorse each 
other. They are parts of God's one great revelation 
of Himself and His methods, but each appears in the 
color and garb of its own plane of expression. 

Religion may be defined as a life characterized by 
spiritual consciousness and right thinking. Holiness 
(originally wholeness) is the natural result and attes- 
tation of the spiritual life. Religion of this vital quality 
restores, because it bestows abundant life. Religion 
considered as belief, doema, ritual, or as outward con- 
duct, has no such power and vitality. The Master 
said, " No man cometh unto the Father but by me ; " 
that is, through the Christ principle or quality within. 
Every human child of God possesses the divine germ, 
and with its unfoldment there come all potency and 
possibility. 



JO THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

How can we make a practical application of these 
grand forces, of the possession of which we are so 
often unconscious? In what "matter-of-fact," every- 
day procedure can one unfold the divine within him 
and realize its fruition ? How can a weary traveller on 
the highway of life, who is carrying a burden of mental 
or physical inharmony, anxiety, and discouragement, 
leave them behind and gain veritable harmony and 
illumination ? 

' Thought discipline and control is the key which 
unlocks spiritual storehouses of strength and attain- 
ment ; and earnest desire and aspiration — which is 
''prayer without ceasing" — is the motor which fur- 
nishes power and intensity. Whenever the thought 
is not occupied with one's daily duty or profession, 
it should be sent aloft into the spiritual atmosphere. 
There are quiet leisure moments by day, and wakeful 
hours at night, when this wholesome and delightful 
exercise may be engaged in to great advantage. If 
one who has never made any systematic effort to lift 
and control the thought- forces will, for a single month, 
earnestly pursue the course here suggested, he will be 
surprised and delighted at the result, and nothing will 
induce him to go back to careless, aimless, and super- 
ficial thinking. At such favorable seasons the outside 
world, with all its current of daily events, is barred out, 
and one goes into the silent sanctuary of the inner 



PLANES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 7 1 

temple of soul to commune and aspire. The spiritual 
hearing becomes delicately sensitive, so that the " still, 
small voice " is audible, the tumultuous waves of exter- 
nal sense are hushed, and there is a great calm. The 
ego gradually becomes conscious that it is face to face 
with the Divine Presence ; that mighty, healing, lov- 
ing. Fatherly life which is nearer to us than we are to 
ourselves. 

This is " the secret place of the Most High," and 
here w^e receive tokens from the One " in whom we 
live, and move, and have our being." There is no 
verbal petition for material favors, for, " all things are 
yours ; " but there is loving communion, harmony, and 
gratitude, and they are mingled with a divine over- 
flowing. There is soul-contact with the Parent-Soul, 
and an influx of life, love, virtue, health, and happiness 
from the Inexhaustible Fountain. There is growing 
at-one-ment, and something of the divine beauty and 
perfection is photographed upon the human soul. The 
divine in man sees and feels its affinity and likeness 
to its Great Source, and there is intimacy and compan- 
ionship. Eternal and transcendent Truth flashes its 
pure and gentle light into the chambers of the soul, 
and there is no mistaking its divine features and vest- 
ments. The living Christ within, who perhaps has 
been hidden by external forms and dogmas, is revealed ; 
and the ego exclaims, in the language of Thomas, " My 



7^ 



THE LA WS OF MENTAL HEALING. 



Lord and my God ! " This is the true - Mount of 
Transfiguration," and on its summit Law, Prophecy, 
and the Logos meet in loving communion. 

The Hght and inspiration from the " Mount" in the 
soul-centre flash their vitality outward, and every 
nerve and tissue in the physical expression feels the 
divine thrill. Their harmonious vibrations directly 
dissipate mental and physical morbidity and dis-ease. 
The process is not miraculous, but orderly, scientific, 
and in full accord with the laws of man's constitution. 
These experiences are possible to every soul, and their 
fulness may be realized in proportion to the measure 
of earnestness and aspiration. / 

Truth is not a code of moral legislation. Intellectual 
formula, or medical lore Imposed by outside author- 
ity, but a disclosing of God's features and methods 
within the human consciousness. We miss the divine 
overflowing because we have lost our spiritual plasticity 
through the sharp mechanical lines of external formal- 
ism. As the physical organism is only soul made 
manifest, the highest good of the inner is the salva- 
tion of the outer. The soul-man being the natural 
head must insist upon regulating the affairs of his own 
household. The usurpation of the flesh-man (who Is 
only a claimant, and no man at all) lies at the founda- 
tion of all human Infelicity. It is the " Fall," which Is 
an ever-recurring mistake, rather than a matter of local 



FLAXES OF COA'SC/OrSAFSS. /S 

history ; a soul-education, purchased more or less 
dearly, according to the measure of understanding. 
Said Browning : — 

" I count life just a stuff 
To try the souFs strength on." 

The serpent of the lower self desires a knowledge 
of good a7id evil. As everything objective is intrinsi- 
cally good, evil can only be known subjectively and ex- 
perimentally. All is good, and the seeming otherwise 
is the result of distorted and inverted vision, which 
produces a morbid consciousness, and this externally 
manifests itself in deformity and disorder. The whole 
cosmos, without deviation, is friendly to man, — as a 
soul, — all apparent unfriendliness being located in the 
perverted vision of the flesh-man. When this " pre- 
tender " is willing to occupy his normal and secondary 
place, the whole order of nature is also friendly to him. 
The material man is not man. but only man's instru- 
ment and expression. The supreme human necessity 
is a ruling consciousness of the true self as spirit, here 
and now. Man is everywhere laboring under the de- 
lusion that he is now a fleshly being ; but, though using 
a corporeal instrument, he is as truly spirit as he ever 
will be." 

" We are spirits clad in veils ; 
Man by man was never seen ; 
All our deep communing fails 
To remove the shadovvv screen." 



74 



THE LA WS OF MENTAL HEALING. 



'-' Man's wrong- consciousness and false thinking are 
expressed in disorderly externals, and he therefore 
believes that he is ill. He is divine and cannot be ill. 
His dis-ease is a beneficent chastisement which kindly 
comes to drive away his only enemy, — his own false 
consciousness, — so that he will " come to himself." It 
is the hunger, thirst, and cold that will finally cause 
him to turn back to the Father's house for sustenance 
and shelter. It is wise to return before wandering 
into the " far country " and taking the severe lessons 
of husk-food and famine, which are necessary when 
consciousness clings to its dark and damp basement. 

The recognition of all life and energy as God in 
manifestation, is an uplifting and healing state of con- 
sciousness. To behold Him immanent in all nature, 
and incarnate in all humanity, transmutes and purifies 
everything that is common and unclean. It makes 
perfect ideals operative and present. With such a 
conscious environment all our lines of relationship 
bring only messages of the good. We cease to recog- 
nize abnormity, until it finally vanishes from our con- 
sciousness and becomes non-existent to us. Discords 
become only preludes to harmony, and God appears 
as infinite and perfect Love, beneficent Law and Intel- 
ligence. This brings heaven (harmony) into the 
present life as a possible condition. 

The noblest and most helpful thought that we can 



PLANES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 75 

possibly bestow upon those about us, is the reaHzation 
that they are divine incarnations. They are '' quicken- 
ing spirits," innermostly children of God. To see and 
firmly hold them in such a light is the strongest and 
purest "mental treatment" that can be given for 
their restoration to wholeness and harmony. 



INFERENCES AND CONCLUSIONS. 



V. 

INFERENCES AND CONCLUSIONS. 

A CAREFUL Study of all the factors involved leads to 
the conclusion that health is teachable. Mental heal- 
ing is not a result of the influence of one personality 
impressed upon another, but comes through the agency 
of Truth, made operative by correct thinking and ideal 
delineation. No healer, however eminent, has any 
inherent power to restore the health-consciousness, but 
he can point out the road, and, arm in arm, lovingly 
conduct his willing brother along its gradual ascent. 
We may also reverently infer that the divine power, 
even when it was fully manifested by the Christ, never 
healed otherwise than through compliance with the 
orderly laws of man's constitution. The " kingdom 
of God " comes not by observation, never breaking 
through or disregarding eternally ordained methods, 
but quietly, silently, and along the smooth lines that 
are immutably true and always in readiness. 

Man's greatest need is a knowledge of himself, but 
he lives so generally in the objective, that, while study- 

79 



80 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

ing almost everything else, he casts only an occasional 
glance within. Education popularly signifies pouring- 
in, rather than educing, or drawing out. To the great 
majority, the grand and boundless kingdom of subjec- 
tivity, with its delicate laws, harmonies, and adjust- 
ments, is a terra incognita. Science, with the aid of 
modern appliances, holds the fixed stars in its grasp, 
divines the laws and order of their constituents, move- 
ments, relations, and destiny, but gives little attention 
to the more wonderful universe — the human mind — 
at its own end of this grand line of relationship. From 
the heavenly bodies down through the vast range of 
materiality, to bacteria, molecules, and atoms, all alike 
receive thought, research, and investigation, while sci- 
ence, which professes to be all-inclusive, almost entirely 
passes by man, — the soul, — notwithstanding he is a 
mirror and an epitome of the whole cosmic economy. 
Said one of the world's greatest philosophers : " Make 
it thy business to know thyself, which is the most dififi- 
cult lesson in the world," and another: "The proper 
study of mankind is man." 

Man's physical organism, like that of all other ani- 
mate creatures, is built by its invisible resident, and not 
for him. Life expresses itself through matter, but this 
process is never reversed. Matter, being utterly inert 
and passive, is seized upon by life or mind forces for 
the purpose of outward manifestation. In the great 



IXFE/^E.VCES AA'D COA'CLUSIOXS. 8 1 

evolutionary scale, every grade and quality of life or- 
ganizes itself in just such an embodiment as exactly 
corresponds to its nature. The tiger-life builds the 
tiger-form, and so with all other kinds of life, man 
being no exception. Life — organized mind — is ever 
carving its own statuesque correspondences, true to 
the unseen model. Mind, in its modelling, follows not 
only species, but also quality to the utmost detail. 
Beauty, ugliness, symmetry, and distortion are alike 
placed upon pedestals by their immutable sculptors. 
But practically, though to some extent unconsciously, 
mind has been degraded hy pseudo-^zi^xvz^ to a prop- 
erty or function of matter. Theology, therapeutics, 
sociology, and ethics have also been greatly ob- 
scured by the thick dust of materialism. But at last 
science is comine to a late and forced conclusion that 
the so-called properties of matter are only sensuous 
limitations. They are simply provisional and educa- 
tional, for matter plays an important part as a foil in 
soul-development. Man, as a soul, should affirm his 
rule and dominion over his body as distinctly as over 
any other machine he uses. He should gain a positive 
sense that his physique is not himself, but rather his 
most obedient servant. As a spiritual ego he should 
also disconnect himself, In consciousness, from his 
lower or sensuous mind, while intuitively asserting his 
supremacy over it, and also over intellect and memory. 



S2 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALIXG. 

As he rises above all inferiors, they lose their tyran- 
nous dispositions and drop into beautiful ministry and 
subordination. 

New recuperative energy can come into the human 
organism only through mind, but if this statement were 
limited to conscious mind, it would be wide of the mark- 
Only a small fraction of mind is upon the surface of 
consciousness. The human mentality may be likened 
to a great reservoir, into which present consciousness 
is always sending a trickling stream of its own hue 
and quality. Truth, filtering in, if long continued, at 
length transforms the whole to its own complexion. It 
is a crystal stream of right thinking. Treatments from 
another, throuo-h thoucrht-vibrations received, brine the 
truth into the deeps of mind more directh' than it comes 
by filtration from consciousness. The healer, through 
cultivation and discipline, develops such a power of 
concentration that his thought-waves have great clear- 
ness and intensity. It is not a hypnotic projection 
of will-power, but transcendent clear-sightedness. It 
draws a beautiful true picture, suggests an ideal, which 
the patient cordially accepts and adopts. Man has 
always possessed divine recuperative forces, but they 
were latent and below the surface of consciousness. 
He is like a discordant musical instrument containing 
splendid possibilities, which are only waiting to respond 
in unison to active harmony. His perverted and materl- 



IXFEA'EXCES AND CONCLUSIONS. 83 

alistic vision must be clarified, so that he can see things 
in their true perspective. The healer gently takes him 
by the hand and guides him up into his soul's " Mount 
of Transfiguration," where he beholds his real ego in 
garments of light, pure and glistening. He is thrilled 
with the glow of the divine image within, and it directly 
tends to shine forth into outward expression. The 
phosphorescent vibrations of love and good-will, flash 
through the murky atmosphere of morbidity and arouse 
the latent capability. 

Healing ministry is not merely religious attestation; 
it is also scientific, because service is a fundamental 
law. Human inequality and variety are necessary, 
otherwise there would be no opportunity for the exer- 
cise of the law of ministry. Unequal conditions furnish 
a vantage-ground for a divine and human outpouring, 
and this will continue until all fragmentary and sep- 
arated interests are unified. When the current of 
spiritual altruism overflows the boundaries of self, its 
crystalline tide submerges the muddy pools on every 
side. The patient looks within over his mental field, 
and discovers that the orerms of wholeness that have 
been silently planted have germinated, and that, with 
his own co-operation, a crop is assured. Or his soul 
may be compared to a sensitive canvas, upon which the 
healer has drawn beautiful outlines for him to fill in 
with harmonious coloring. 



84 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

To beautify the reflection in a mirror, we do not 
manipulate the glass, but change the object reflected ; 
and so, in order to reflect a superior body, the mental 
pattern must be perfected. It is as natural for pessi- 
mism and evil thinking to outwardly materialize their 
ugly features, as for the printed photograph to be faith- 
ful to the negative. Mental pictures and thoughts of 
disorder, whether from perverted thinking, reading, or 
conversation, all stimulate objective correspondence. 
Dis-ease, studied for scientific or even therapeutic pur- 
poses, has the same propagative tendency. 

When man feels himself to be a finited expression 
of divinity, — a spiritual entity, pure and simple, — he 
begins to publish his ideals in the external. \ They per- 
meate him to the physical extremities. If he looks 
upon himself as " a poor worm of the dust," and a 
*' depraved " worm at that, he will increasingly fill out 
the measure of his own thouorht. The doctrine of 
"natural depravity" gives men a decided impetus in 
that direction. On the contrary, if they can be induced 
to look at and magnify the divine within them, they 
are not only on the road to salvation, but are saved, j 

All outward phenomena are like stereoscopic views : 
they can be changed by shifting the slides, but not by 
a manipulation of the canvas. 

The practical universe to each one is that which is 
built of thouo-hts, mental states, and delineations. No 



IXFEKEXCES AND CO.VCLCS/O.VS. 85 

evil or disease will disfigure its pure and beautiful 
proportions unless it be self-imposed. There is noth- 
ing- in the objective Avorld that has any power to harm 
us, because it is powerless to enter unless we open the 
door. It behooves us to exercise our God-eiven crea- 
live energy to uprear and invoke pure ideals, and to 
arrange them after the divine plan. It is not merely a 
sentiment of poetic license, but a statement of scien- 
tific exactitude, that when we dwell in and link our- 
selves to the Infinite strength, we have no relations 
with weakness, evil, and disorder. 

Our weak and negative states leave us open to 
*' take on " outside prevailing conditions. If any par- 
ticular order of disease or infirmity is prevalent, we 
open the gate, — or rather it is already open, — and 
it walks in, and we coddle and entertain it. We 
are shaken with the wind and float with the cur- 
rent, because we present the negative rather than the 
positive pole of our nature. (' If several persons are 
equally exposed to a contagion, some take it and others 
do not, and this proves conclusively that it has no posi- 
tive power, but that the result is purely a question of 
receptive condition. All the power there is in disease 
has been gratuitously presented to it through ignorant 
self-limitatiom 

The weak negative condition of the individual and 
the race cannot be entirely overcome at once, but it is 



86 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

high time for a general movement to conquer. Soul 
must rise superior to environment, dominate body, and 
free itself from degrading and long-continued servi- 
tude. The law of the Infinite never fails, and by com- 
pliance with its provisions we enlist its unlimited 
might in our behalf. The shifting systems reared by 
intellectual scholasticism are forever beinof shaken, and 
are unworthy of dependence. 

It may plausibly be urged that we are entirely sub- 
servient to what is known as hygienic law. True, in 
our present state of development it would be unwise to 
defy its reasonable and plain provisions ; but yet, as we 
learn to depend upon higher law, we can gradually 
lessen our abject servitude to the lower. In all orders 
and orrades of activitv, the hiorher rules the lower, the 
inner the outer, and the immaterial the material. It is 
true that a law is never repealed nor suspended, on its 
own plane, but it can be overcome from above. When 
one lifts a weight, the higher law of the human will does 
not repeal or suspend gravitation, but overcomes it. 
An extreme carefulness regarding draughts, diet, exer- 
cise, and exposure, tightens the bonds of servitude to 
the details of hygienic regulation. One who confers 
such a supremacy upon particulars can never become 
*' a law unto himself," which is the condition of true 
freedom. He who fears that he will take cold, is 
always taking cold. Said Job, "The thing which I 



/yi'EREXCES AND COXCLUSIOXS. 8/ 

greatly feared is come upon me." Material law is 
supreme upon its own plane, but as the clay is 
moulded by the potter, so the body should be ruled 
and shaped by its owner. The truth makes men free 
in the measure that the}' gradually rise to the larger 
liberty and potency of the higher law. 

Every mental and spiritual quality radiates and prop- 
agates itself, and brings its outward correspondences 
into action. Thought-waves are liJ^e musical vibra- 
tions. If certain strings of a piano are struck, the 
corresponding notes of other pianos near by are stirred 
into action. Deep calls unto deep, and like unto 
like. 

/ Any one who talks much of illness radiates a diseased 
consciousness. There are people so artificial, that they 
almost seem to " enjoy poor health." For a social 
greeting, a simple benediction would be far preferable 
to the stereotyped '' How are you ?" or '' How is your 
health ? " Health is always good, even when there is 
an evident lack of its proper expression. That thread- 
bare, conventional topic of conversation, the ailments 
of self and neighbors, is a promoter of the conditions 
specified. 

One who regards soundness as normal and to be 
expected, sheds it broadcast, and his very presence will 
strengthen and uplift. The spiritually developed mind 
carries with it a veritable halo, the very touch of which 



66 THE LAJVS OF MEXTAL HEALEXG. 

soothes and restores, while materlahstic thought ever 
gravitates towards the earth and mortality. 

In past time the most eminent sages and philoso- 
phers have recognized the real self as divine and inner- 
mostly holy (whole). Socrates called it the divine 
self. It is the true oracle, whose voice is deeper and 
wiser than any utterances and opinions of the intellect. 
We must affirm it as the only true ego, — the divine 
image, — until the fact becomes firmly lodged in the 
consciousness. 

The Bible has been regarded simply as a moral code, 
but a deeper insight shows that it is also full of scien- 
tific exactitude. Science is a knowledge of applied 
law. The " Sermon on the Mount" is thoroughly sci- 
entific in the most exact sense of that term. The so- 
called science of the past did not recognize these facts, 
because its investigations were limited by the boundary 
of lower law, or the kingdom of materiality. Isaiah 
showed a profound knowledge of higher law when he 
declared, " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as 
eagles ; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall 
walk and not faint." To " wait upon the Lord " is to 
conform to divine methods and ideals. 

Wholeness is the manifesting of the true self, the 
showing forth of divine principle. Spiritual law is 
thoroughly utilitarian. As we perceive it and pursue 



INFERENCES AND CONCLUSIONS. 89 

the course it has marked out, it lends us its infinite po- 
tency. The ascending path to clearer perceptions of 
Truth is through the faithful exercise of those we 
already have. The Truth is far better than we can 
imagine, therefore we cannot plume our ideals for too 
lofty a flight. I We must " think no evil," dwell only in 
the good, and build nothing else into the walls of our 
soul-temple. It is often said of some particular thing 
that, " it is too good to be true," but in reality the 
good is beyond adequate expression. As the superb 
strength, majesty, and perfection of the oak lie en- 
wrapped in the acorn, so in our divine innermost is con- 
tained all potency, all harmony, all good. We let our 
light shine by radiating its glory, and in so doing inci- 
dentally make the otherwise opaque body transparent 
to its beams. The divine that is in you is you. The 
deific incarnation in Jesus is not lowered or disparaged, 
but all humanity, in varying degrees of unfoldment, is 
lifted towards it. 

In addressing our friend we should hold his true 
self in our consciousness, for by appealing to that we 
help it into manifestation. " As in Adam all die, so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." The Adamic condi- 
tion is error and carnality, which lead to death ; and 
this death is not physical dissolution, but the extin- 
guishment of the sense of the good. In Christ all are 
*' made alive ; " that is, the Christly consciousness is 



90 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

life, health, and peace, and this causes all its seeming 
opposites to vanish. Such terms as the devil, hell, a 
roaring lion, an angry God, the consuming fire, and 
many other objective terms, represent states of con- 
sciousness. These are produced by an idolatrous mis- 
taking of the unreal for the Real. *' Choose ye this 
day whom ye will serve," or build into the mind -struc- 
ture. Lip-service is naught, for all real homage is "in 
spirit and in truth." 

The belief in physical causation has been the great 
racial mistake, and nowhere has it been more pro- 
nounced than in the hicdilv intellectual and so-called 
scientific world. Keen searchers after causation are 
peering into matter to discover it, but no scalpel 
will ever reach it, nor microscope bring it to light. 
" Lymphs" and ''elixirs of life" will never add an iota 
to the fulness of the perfect — though unrecognized, 
and therefore unrealized — divine vitality. Even the 
unit of matter itself — the supposed atom — has never 
yet been touched nor beheld. Its very existence, 
therefore, is only an intellectual abstraction. The soul 
or life of a thine is the real thine, and this is as true 
of a tree as of man. The matter — whatever that may 
be — in either case is grasped by the life and mind- 
forces for temporary expression only. 

A study of health, as of any other perfect and 
normal entity, tends towards its actualization ; but 



IiYFERENCES AND CONCLUSIONS. 9 1 

research in morbidity, of whatever variety, is unwhole- 
some. Every discovery of a new mahgn bacterium, 
or disease-eerm, adds one more weiofht to the burden 
of apprehension that is oppressing humanity. 

A positively developed spiritual nature is invulner- 
able to any " evil " thing known in the w^hole universe 
of God. No claim of animal magnetism, hypnotic 
sueeestion, witchcraft, ill-luck, external circumstance, 
malien astroloo-ical influence, nor even adverse hered- 
ity, can shake a soul- structure of Truth. 

The believer in inherent human depravity is all the 
time forging new links in the chain which binds him 
to disorder and limitation. He labors under the delu- 
sion that sin (error that comes through ignorance) has 
entailed upon him the " anger of God," and that vin- 
dictive penalty is due him. Penalty there surely is, 
but however severe, it is kindly and corrective. It is 
the " flaming sword " that preve^its men from going 
on to the length of self-destruction. Evil is the 
aspect presented by any definite stage of development 
or evolution, as seen from- a plaiie more advanced. In 
such a light its deviation from law is obvious, but law 
will finally bring it into line. 

We read that '' the prayer of faith shall save the 
sick ; " but since the days of the primitive church — 
judging from its fruits — that kind of prayer has not 
been general. The prayer of doubt and uncertainty, 



92 THE LAWS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

or the petition that salvation may come, does not avail. 
The kind of prayer that is needed is the realization 
that salvation is already complete, and that its full 
expression devolves entirely upon ourselves. The 
usual petition that we may be submissive to disorder, 
pain, and trial, has not made, and never will make them 
normal or lovable. The formulas of theology practi- 
cally deny the power and inclination of God to work 
among men as he formerly did, and yet the)^ declare 
him unchangeable, — the same yesterday, to-day, and 
forever. If those who profess Godliness manifested its 
fruits and outwardly showed its attestations, the world 
could not help believing and accepting. 
/ Constant solicitude regarding the physical welfare 
of our near friends, and the fear that something 
adverse may befall them, starts currents that actually 
tend towards that which is feared. The attitude of 
perfect trust in the growing and ripening good of all 
things, is only reached as the spiritual standpoint is 
gained. The pure optimistic Ideals which the higher 
evolution shows to be true and scientific, are a great 
saving element to humanity. / 

f It is important for every one who Is trying person- 
ally to apply these principles, to understand that all 
progress is vibratory and uneven. The higher stand- 
point Is only reached through a long series of " ups 
and downs." To the quickened Insight a possible 



INFERENCES AND CONCLUSIONS. 93 

retrooTade in consciousness may seem to reach almost 
back to the starting-point, but in reahty the outlook 
is broader, and the standards and aspirations have 
already been advanced. All our mistakes, if rightly 
considered, are thoroughly educational ; for only 
throuorh them can we learn our lessons well. The 
lower and false selfhood will fight with desperation, 
and before finally yielding will renew the conflict again 
and again ; but Truth is invincible, and error must at 
length give way. The purifying fire seems to burn 
us, but in reality it destroys only " the wood, hay, 
and stubble " which claim our selfhood. With all 
its threatenings it only cleanses, polishes, and brings 
out in high relief, the beauty of the divine humanity. 
All so-called evils and disorders are existent as con- 
ditions, but have no reality as entities. Conditions 
and educational experiences serve their purpose and 
come to an end, but all true verities are eternal, 
because they are divine. 
~j— Love is the great healing power of the universe. 
We are miserable because we are full of conscious and 
unconscious antagonisms, and believe that " things are 
against us." On the contrary, every real force in 
existence is friendly. Whenever we send out loving 
thought in generous profusion, every part of our envi- 
ronment echoes back a sweet benediction. Even seem- 
ing enemies, personal and impersonal, are no exception. 



94 THE LA WS OF MENTAL HEALING. 

Love invigorates. Its electric thrill sends new life 
through sluggish minds, weak bodies, and paralyzed 
limbs. At the Beautiful temple gate, Peter and John 
concentrated such a current of healing love upon the 
lame man, that he at once walked, leaped, and praised 
God. That wonderful power has not been withdrawn 
from the world, for God never takes back ; and it only 
needs the same consecration and positive spiritual 
clearness in some modern Peter and John for like 
manifestations now. Love is the great universal 
spiritual law of attraction which binds God and all His 
creatures into harmonious unity, wipes away all tears, 
and heals all seeming infelicities. 



/ 



PART II. 
IDEAL SUGGESTION. 



IDEAL SUGGESTION, 



The formulation of the system of Ideal Suggestion 
is the outcome of a study of the laws and manifestations 
of mental activity. Law is universal ; its understanding 
is the acme of scientific attainment, and its utilization 
the highest prerogative of man. Its clear and harmo- 
nious lines are as distinctly traceable, in their onward 
course, through the moral and spiritual realm, as in 
that which pertains to matter. Law is ordained, not 
to enslave us, but that w^e, by compliance w^ith its 
methods, may grasp and wield its divine forces, and 
through them assert our supremacy over the kingdoms 
of our rightful dominion. Intelligently comprehended, 
it never binds man, but sets him free. Ignorance is 
slavery. It tethers us to the imaginary hitching-posts 
of tradition by conventional cords of the seen and su- 
perficial. Science has made remarkable progress in 
tracing the footsteps of law in the material realm, but 
has been largely color-blind to their Imprint as they 
run through the great immaterial kingdom beyond. 

97 



IDEAL SUGGESTION. 



There — in the higher zone of the Real — is where 
they possess their greatest significance for humanity. 

In presenting Ideal Suggestion as a practical healing 
force, — made so simple that it may be comprehended 
by a child, — it should be understood that it is not of- 
fered as a substitute for the living healer and teacher. 
/Whenever and wherever it is practical, especially where 
the ailment is of a serious nature, the personal embodi- 
ment and exponent of truth should be consulted. The 
application of the formulated Ideals is proposed as 
supplementary ; an elaboration and extension of well- 
ascertained principles for home and private use. They 
may, in fact, be employed as supplementary to any 
therapeutic system. Even to the great majority, who 
have yet developed no confidence in powers less ma- 
terial than drugs, a pathway may be opened up which 
eventually will lead to a higher consciousness. Up- 
ward progress gradually discloses new vistas and pos- 
sibilities, which before have been unappreciated ; yes, 
often undreamed of. In the present state of public 
opinion and development, it is not expected that those 
who have not already some little growth of confidence 
in mental forces will depend upon them, except per- 
haps tentatively, and in proportion as a perception of 
the truth awakens and develops within them. The 
formulas possess no charm nor magic, and are therefore 
powerless except as they appeal to the inner and 



IDEAL SUGGESTION. 99 

hicrher selfhood. But the lessons and sucrcrestions, 
when used only as auxiliary, may prove highly edu- 
cational. There is a deeper knowledge than that of 
the intellect. The intuitive faculty is higher and di- 
viner, and its development is of the greatest practical 
importance. Many have found themselves lifted to 
loftier standpoints, from which grander outlooks have 
flashed upon them, through the use of means seem- 
ingly inadequate and simple. " God hath chosen the 
(apparently) weak things of the world to confound the 
things which are mighty." 

To those who already have some understanding of 
the laws of spiritual and mental science in their rela- 
tion to human wholeness, the logic, and rationality of 
the " Suggestions " will be easily understood. There 
is nothing ^^/^r- natural, ^/^-natural, or illogical, about 
them. The system is only a plain scientific application 
of well-understood means to ends, and Is in perfect 
accord with law, nature, and practical religion. 

Materialistic science prides itself upon Its accuracy 
and exhaustive thoroughness, but its conventional 
scope does not extend beyond the boundaries of mere 
phenomena. Its researches touch only the shell and 
surface of the real. In vain it peers into clay or dust 
to find the springs of ultimate causation. In its tradi- 
tional dealings with disease, it suppresses manifesta- 
tions and symptoms, without going beneath them to 



lOO IDEAL SLJi;UKSJ'/0\. 

tlicir primary soiii'c^cs aiid roots. It would cxtinoruisli 
fire 1))' (U^slroyin^" the smoke, ll would wipc^ out c^ou- 
ta^ion by lr)iiiL;- to kill th(^ bacteria (the desti-uelion 
of which is wise secoudai'il) , and necessary uiidc^r 
|)resent conditions) without ascerlainino- the primal 
causers which produce and multipl)- them. It would 
])i'acticall\' hold bullets and shells responsible for th(^ 
cariKiL^c of a battle, rather than the passion and antaiL^"- 
onism which urs^'ed on the conllict. 

The physical ori^anism of man manifests liis own 
erroneous and hdse thinking- of the past, and also, in 
some deoret;, that ot the race in ^(Mieral. The (juality 
ot (\atisati\a; lorces must be chano'ed in ordc^r to th(^ 
modihcation oi- impi"o\-ement ot their expi-ession. " Do 
men leather grapes ol thorns, or h^s ol thistles ?" 

'i1ie |)urpose of Ideal Su^-o^estitMi is far broader and 
hii^her than the mitii^ation and healin^- of plnsical ail- 
ments, howe\-er desirable that ma)- bc\ Such is but 
an incidental |)art of its work, and the same is tru(' ot 
mental healing- as that term is ordinarily emplo)'ed. 
The orand mission of these orc^at principles is the 
devcdopment ol the spii"itual ei^o ; to roll the stone 
awa\' from the door of the sepulchre of the lower self; 
to bi-in^" to biilh the spiritual consciousness; to free 
man from the doiuinion ol sin and seltlshIU^ss, and to 
enthrone the real divine self, — God's imai^e, — and put 
him in possession of his divine luMMtai^e. 



'IDEAL SUGGESYVOiV. lOI 

There Is a lower plane of " siig"gestIon " which is 
attracting considerable attention, and which, to some 
extent, is being" utilized for therapeutic purposes. It 
is known as ''hypnotic" suggestion, the term being 
used to signify a mild hypnotism, or an Impressed 
mental condition not so intense as that which is char- 
acterized by trance or deep sleep. It possesses 
wonderful power, and until its laws are more fully 
understood it is injudicious for earnest and impartial 
seekers after truth to give it unqualified condemna- 
tion. But however laudable its legitimate employ- 
ment may be, in any given case, its essential quality is 
servitude. It is also evident that its possible field for 
abuse is very great. So long as the world is full of 
weak, negative, susceptible, and undeveloped personali- 
ties, Its unscrupulous employment will be quite possi- 
ble. Without judging It unfairly In advance of more 
thorough investigation, — which it Is receiving both In 
Europe and America, — Its kingdom Is undoubtedly 
within the boundaries of the lower or sensuous mind. 
Even If it serve some therapeutic ends it can never be 
an Ideal curative agent. In proportion to the meas- 
ure of development of the spiritual selfhood, one rises 
above Its possible dominion. The real and higher ego 
can have nothing to fear from It, while to those lack- 
ing soul-unfoldment It has possible abuse. Its further 
possibilities need not be dwelt upon in this connection, 



I02 IDEAL SUGGESTION. 

but there is one fact connected with its phenomena of 
great significance which is persistently ignored by tra- 
ditional medical systems. Its operation proves most 
conclusively the doctrine of mental causation as distin- 
guished from the physical causation of the schools. 
It shows that mind is the seat of all potency, sensa- 
tion, and action, and that the body is only its passive 
instrument. Under hypnotic influence the bodily 
senses reverse their testimony and accept the most 
absurd and false impressions. Pure spring water can 
be transformed into poison, heat into cold, black into 
white, the bodily functions suspended, pain made 
enjoyable, in fact, hardly anything is too extravagant 
to be capable of realization. With the conventional 
theory of physical causation so completely refuted, it is 
impossible to find any possible ground for the suppo- 
sition that a drug — in itself — by any chemical action 
upon the body can cure the man. 

Hypnotism, and, in a lesser degree, hypnotic sugges- 
tion, carries a strong coloring of the imperfect, and 
sometimes unreliable personality of the operator. 

Ideal Suggestion contains no possible element of 
personality. Its mental engravings are pure, spiritual, 
impersonal, and from above. They are harmonious 
living pictures, voluntarily received and adopted by 
one who understands their purpose and beneficence. 
It has often been observed that even in the most care- 



IDEAL SUGGESTION. IO3 

fill and conscientious mental or spiritual treatments, 
there is the possibility of an unconscious, though 
unwished for, personal element. To keep perfectly 
clear of any subtle mingling of personality requires a 
thorough consecration and spiritual discernment, not 
always easy of attainment. Ideal Suggestion presents 
no possibility of any such unconscious complication. 

All spiritual progress and unfoldment which is the 
result of individual aspiration never has to be done 
over, because it has been accomplished not for one, 
but ^K and in him. It is walking upon one's own feet 
without external aid. It is drawing directly from the 
Infinite Fountain of life, love, and good, through the 
channel of one's own being. It develops self-reliance 
and spiritual independence, and strengthens those 
inner ties which bind every human soul to the parent 
'' Oversoul." 

7 Ideal Suggestion is especially recommended for ner- 
vous and chronic disorders of every shade and type. 
Its possibilities are also unlimited for the release of 
humanity from every kind of slavery to the animal self- 
hood. If the directions are faithfully and persistently 
followed, it will break the chains of the inebriate, and 
the cure will not only be lasting, but the whole life will 
be reconstructed. Those in bondage to the opium- 
habit, or to other indulgences of a similar nature, 
including tobacco, can be set free. Some measure of 



I04 IDEAL SUGGESTION. 

desire for release is pre-supposed. However, this 
desire is at least latent in every human being, and with 
only insignificant beginnings it soon grows and develops 
under culture. 

Those in servitude to any kind of fear, or who are 
carrying burdens of grief, poverty, disappointment, 
anxiety, or melancholia, will find Ideal Suggestion a free 
and sovereign remedy. To any who are overcome by, 
or in danger of yielding to passion, lust, envy, avarice, 
jealousy, or crime, it furnishes not only an antidote, 
but a radical cure. 

I There are no limitations to its power, because It lays 
hold upon laws and principles which are immutable and 
divine. The more one advances (and he can advance 
if he luill) into the ideal exercises, as formulated, the 
farther he will leave behind all the negative and 
morbid conditions w^iich have been enumerated. This 
is as true and demonstrable as a mathematical problem.^ 
/' Some may infer that moral suasion and religious 
instruction, if given earnestly, would accomplish the 
same results, but they do not, for tlie reason that their 
application is unscientific. As usually employed they 
are out of accord with the laws of mind. Their object- 
ive aims, instead of being regarded as ideally complete, 
have only been hoped for. They have filled the con- 
sciousness with the impression that evil is an entity, 
almost if not quite as powerful as Good. They have 



IDEAL SUGGESTION. IO5 

been negative rather than positive, and therefore have 
lacked efficiency. Conventional sermons, moral essays, 
authority, petitionary prayer, creeds, and well-meant 
reproof, which endeavor to do away with evil and 
discord by opposition, cannot make them unreal, or 
put them out of human consciousness. The very 
recognition of them confers realism. 

The inebriate is approached as a poor, degraded 
creature ; is lectured, condemned, and has his habits 
held up before him, thereby emphasizing his false ani- 
mal selfhood, whereas only his higher nature or per- 
fect ego should be appealed to. This should be done, 
not only in word, but in concentrated thought and 
real love, for their psychological influence is all-im- 
portant. The animal selfhood must be ignored, and 
the divine in man recognized as the man. This di- 
rectly brings him into manifestation. He accepts the 
specification and soon fills the ideal. If the principles 
here outlined are followed to their logical conclusion, 
it will be easy to understand, not only why conventional 
religion has lost its original and rightful healing power, 
but also why it has been so unsuccessful and unscien- 
tific in dealing with the sin, woe, and degradation of 
humanity. It has meant well, but, relying upon its 
supernaturalism, it has disregarded 07'derly law. In- 
stead of dwelling upon the good and the ideal, and 
letting evil and all its train vanish from human vision, 



I06 IDEAL SUGGESTION. 

it has mistakenly tried to conquer it by dwelling upon 
its magnitude and analyzing its heinousness (holding 
even depravity to be natural and universal), and thus 
its dark realism has been crowded into human con- 
sciousness. Instead of ''thinking no evil," it em- 
phasized it. If only mental pictures of the normal and 
ideal were ever outlined, what would become of evil ? 

The only way to " overcome " the world, the flesh, and 
the evil, is to so fill the mental chambers with the per- 
fect, lovable, and symmetrical, that there is no room 
for them. As perversion has no other residence than 
the human consciousness, when there displaced, it is 
non-existent. ) 

But when abnormity is held up and analyzed, even 
for purposes of warning and condemnation, its pictures 
are multiplied and its seed scattered. Idealism is 
scientific and in accord with the laws of mind. Its 
pathway leads directly away from all that hampers, 
enslaves, and degrades, and, if followed faithfully, it 
finally discloses freedom and harmony. 
V The author of this book has no personal interest in 
the promulgation of Ideal Suggestion, other than his 
desire to freely give out such truth as makes him its 
channel. To suppress the inner voice because its 
message is not yet popular, would be to adopt a time- 
serving and timid policy unworthy of deep and honest 
conviction. 



PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR 
IDEAL SUGGESTION. 



/ 



PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR IDEAL 
SUGGESTION. 



Instructions for the use of the Suggested Ideals contained 
in the following pages. 

FIRST Retire each day to a quiet apartment, and be 

alone IN THE SILENCE. 

SECOND. — Assume the most restful position possible, 
in an easy=chair, or otherwise ; breathe deeply and rather 
rapidly for a few moments, and thoroughly relax the physi- 
cal body, for by suggestive correspondence this renders it 
easier for the mind to be passive and receptive. 

THIRD Bar the door of thought against the external 

world, and also shut out all physical sensation and im= 
perfection. 

FOURTH. — Rivet the mind upon the *' meditation '* 
(left=hand page), and by careful and repeated reading absorb 
its truth. Then place the " suggestion " (right=hand page), 
at a suitable distance from the eyes, and fasten them upon 
it for from ten to twenty minutes. Do not merely look 
upon it, but wholly GIVE YOURSELF UP TO IT, until it 
fills and overflows the entire consciousness. 

1 08 



PRACTICAL D/KEC7V0NS. lOQ 

FIFTH. — Close the eyes for twenty to thirty minutes 
more; behold it with the mind's eye, and let it permeate 
thfe whole organism. 

SIXTH. — Call it into the field of mental vision during 
every wakeful hour of the night. 

FINALLY. — If disordered conditions are chronic and 
tenacious, there need be no discouragement if progress is 
not rapid, nor if *' ups and downs" occur. Absorb the 
ideals REPEATEDLY, until no longer needed. The cure 
is NOT magical, but a NATURAL GROWTH. 

Ideals will be actualized in due season. 

SUPPLEMENTARY.— After the power to focalize the 
mind upon ideals is developed, which may often be done 
in a few weeks, the use of the visible texts as mental 
pictures will become unnecessary. They are aids during 
the educational unfoldment of the concentrative faculty. 
In time the suggestions may be made graphic without 
their employment. At each sitting, it may be well to 
alternate five=minute periods of intense concentration 
with like seasons of perfect rest and receptivity and 
closed eyes. Be an open receptacle, and let the 
omnipresent love, good, and strength flow in. For 
sure progress, use some one of the exercises DAILY. 
Select the one that seems most fitting. 



I lO FIRST MEDITA TION. 

Man throueh a careless or mistaken consciousness 
separates himself from God, and this produces infelicity 
and dis-ease. Thought confers subjective realism either 
upon ideal entities or upon seeming bad conditions. 
What we dwell upon we become, or at least grow like. 
Thought must have an outlet, otherwise it stagnates. 
God is the great normal Reality for it to rest upon. 
Consciousness must be open to the divine harmony, 
else it becomes disorderly and abnormal. It takes on 
character from that to which it links itself, — God, if 
it be God ; change and discord, if materiality. It is 
therefore easy to be outwardly and morally correct and 
yet be ^^;/-Godly. The highest human consciousness is 
that of" God, and this is "Godliness which is great 
gain." To change from a controlling self-conscious- 
ness to a ruling God-consciousness, is to find harmony 
and health. The vision must be clarified so as to 
behold God everywhere, within and without, as all 
Life, all Love, and All in All. Discord cannot long 
abide the divine companionship. Take the name, and 
through the medium of the outer eye engrave it on the 
tablet of the inner consciousness. 



FIRS T SUG GES TION. 1 1 1 

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112 SECOND MEDITATION. 

Unselfish love is divine. God is not merely lovely. 
He is Love. As ei'^vitation inheres in universal mat- 
ter, so love permeates universal Spirit. It is a vast 
atmxOsphere in which we live, even though uncon- 
sciously. It inspires life and infuses vigor. It " casts 
out fear." " Fear hath torment," and kills. Love 
heals. Thought-messages of love sent in any direc- 
tion come back in sweet echoes. They are like light 
reflected and re-reflected in a series of mirrors. As 
love comes in, its opposites vanish from the conscious- 
ness. It sees only the good. Its lower forms are only 
kindergartens for the training of its broader spiritual 
manifestations. Thouo-hts are thino-s, and love is 
thought-ministration. As we love everything, every- 
thing will love us. Directed towards our trials and 
pains it transforms them and renders them educational. 
" Love neve}' faileth." Under its divine inspiration, 
duty becomes privilege, and weakness, strength. It 
thrills both mind and body, and is good news to every 
nerve and muscle. 

It glows in the cheek, shines in the eye, promotes 
the digestion, quickens the assimilation, sharpens the 
senses, toughens the sinews, and sends the divine elec- 
tricity through every vein and tissue. It cools the 
fevered temperature, rouses the vitality, dissipates rest- 
lessness, and brings order out of chaos. Divine love 
cures. 



SECOND SUGGESTION. II3 

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114 THIRD MEDITATION. 

To the deceptive and sensuous consciousness, life 
seems limited and narrow, but it is really a part of the 
One, — the Universal Life. The concept of separa- 
tion closes the divine influx and causes dryness and 
leanness. Life is a continuous divine communication. 
The heart-throb of God pulsates through humanity. 
Life can never die nor diminish. External forms 
change, but life goes on. Man is a '' living soulT 
Physical sensation is but a lower manifestation of life. 
'' Man shall not live by bread alone." The divine exu- 
berance fills every space not closed against it. Our 
little stagnant pool must be connected with the sur- 
ging and purifying tides of the great ocean of abound- 
ing vitality. All is at our disposal. 

I am now filled with the divine energy. I open my 
soul to it and let it possess me. It overflows so that 
I give it out to those around me. 

As a child of God I deny limitation and claim my 
waiting heritage. God is Life, and Life is All. 

Life, eternal life, is mine, and it fills my whole being. 



THIRD SUGGESTION. II5 

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1 1 6 FOURTH MEDITA TIOAT. 

Christ is the name given to the divine human ideal. 
It represents the type that was manifested through the 
personahty of Jesus. The highest inner consciousness 
is the Christ. He is already within, but remains undis- 
covered so long as we think of our selves as flesh. He 
is found when we recognize the true spiritual ego, 
which is, humanity filled with divinity. Blood repre- 
sents the inmost quality and character, — not the 
death, but the life. The resurrection is the lifting of 
consciousness from the physical to the spiritual. The 
*' mind of Christ " is the Saviour of humanity. It knows 
neither sin, disorder, nor death. It manifests the per- 
fection and divinity that before have been only latent. 
As we embody the Christ-mind we become " sons of 
God." With Him we are crucified in the lower self 
and " made perfect through suffering." We rise from 
the tomb of mortality set free from its error and cor- 
ruption. The " mind that was in Christ " gives us 
dominion over the dreams and illusions of mortal 
sense. It breaks our bonds and sets us free. It 
heals, restores, invigorates, and harmonizes. In its 
name and by its strength I am healed. I am perfect 
— every whit whole. 



FO UR Til SUGGES 770. V. 1 1 / 

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Il8 FIFTH MEDITATION. 

I AM soul ; not have a soul, but am soul, here, now, 
and forever. My body is no part of me, though it 
outwardly expresses my past quality of thinking. Sin, 
disease, suffering, fear, grief, and death, are not enti- 
ties having independent existence. They are shadows, 
morbid pictures, images, dreams which have only a 
seeming life. They give us sensations which make 
them real to the sensuous mind, therefore they picture 
themselves on the body. Displaced by the Real, they 
shrink to their native nothingness. 

Truth is the Christ-mind in me. ** I in them and 
thou in me." Love is God feeling through me. My 
soul is God's life finited. The *' Kingdom of Heaven " 
(Harmony) is within me. The real I, or innermost 
self, cannot be ill, sin, nor suffer. It is perfect and 
immortal. Only the false, sensuous self is disordered ; 
therefore, the conscious ego must be removed from it. 
Illusions of evil are *' works of the Devil," which are 
dispelled and destroyed by the Christ-mind. My cure 
is the natural unfolding into outward expression of the 
soul's divine life, health, harmony, joy, and peace. 



FTFTH SUG GES TION. ^ ^ 9 



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I20 SIXTH MEDITATION. 



Humanity Is one. I am living and loving, not for 
myself, but for the race. If I rise, I help to lift all 
about me, and if I fall, I drag others down. Loving 
thought, sent out, has a positive healing influence 
both on sender and recipient. We live the life of 
humanity, — others in us, and we in them. We cannot 
be saved disconnected from relations. Our highest 
privilege and office is to be channels through which 
the divine life shall flow out to invigorate and inspire. 
The essence of salvation and of true healing Is the 
death of selfishness. If the soul-currents do not 
course from within outwards, they sink in a deadly 
vortex. A son of God is one who breaks the chains 
of captives, opens prison-doors, and proclaims freedom. 
Giving out, or ministration, is the great and highest 
law, divine and human. Simple altruism sometimes 
heals, because it lifts consciousness from the lower 
inharmonious self and turns it outward and upward. 
Thought sent out In loving waves never returns void. 
The race is one, and all lines of relationship converge 
in God. I heal and am healed. 



SIXTH SUGGESTION. 121 

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122 SEVENTH MEDITATION. 

In the divine strength '' all things " are ours. In 
proportion as we recognize its all sufficiency^ we have 
life, love, help, rest, bliss, light, peace, faith, honor, 
power, purity, health, beauty, growth, energy, relief, 
wisdom, strength, harmony, ability, freedom, dignity, 
liberty, fluency, rapture, support, delight, sonship, 
courage, concord, soundness, goodness, wholeness, 
vitality, gladness, nobility, guidance, symmetry, serenity, 
pleasure, progress, kindness, abundance, enjoyment, 
judgment, affection, constancy, eloquence, perfec- 
tion, perception, revelation, aspiration, contentment, 
discernment, inspiration, refreshment, brotherhood, 
nourishment, co-operation, restoration, improvement, 
beneficence, satisfaction, completeness, spirituality, 
intelligence, illumination, trustfulness, emancipation, 
enlightenment, companionship, unselfishness, under- 
standing, and reconciliation. All these are things, 
and they are contained in the divine promise and 
fulness. 

In the past we have often mistakenly thought that 
their opposing negations were realities. I now deny 
the seeming, and fill my mental horizon only with the 
good, the true, and the divine. What a glorious heri- 
tage ! ** All things are yours'' 



SEVENTH SUGGESTION I 23 

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124 EIGHTH MEDITATION. 

I HAVE physical expression, but am not body. I 
have never seen my friend, nor has he beheld me. 
I have never even seen myself. Matter has been 
seized upon by the life-forces, — or mind, — and built 
up into a form of sensuous expression. All potency 
resides in spirit, and all material organisms are the 
products of its orderly energy. Life sets up its own 
animated statues with perfect correspondence. The 
color and tone of mentality come out in every form 
and feature. Every mental picture of the past is 
tr\'ing to outwardly embody itself, even though years 
have intervened. It is infallible law that we show 
forth, and are, the total composite of past thinking. 
Let us put away pride, and admit that all primary 
causation is from within. We charge our ills to the 
weather, water, air, climate, draughts, dampness, work, 
cold, bacteria, malaria, and contagion. These may be 
occasions, but our receptivity is the primary and real 
cause. 

I deny the rule and tyranny of body, but affirm its 
utility as a servant and instrument. I will think such 
things as I wish embodied. 

/am spirit. / rule. 



EIGHTH SUGGESTION. 12$ 



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126 NINTH MEDITATION. 

The highest and purest human perception Is that 
which sees no evil and understands that all things, 
real entities (for subjective conditions are of our own 
making), are made by Good in good and for good. 
This is self-evident, for the manifestation of God must 
be universal, else how could He be omnipresent. Sub- 
jective thought and experience is the only lens through 
which evil can be beheld. "Thou that art of purer 
eyes than to behold evil." Only finite and unfolding 
beings need the educational and corrective discipline 
called evil, which is the " growing pains" of good. 
Soul must have an experience in matter. 

The roots of illness have their rise in conscious or 
unconscious fear. Fear is a recoil from the view of 
mental false images. Their reality is conferred by 
consciousness. Mental impressions of disease, death, 
and hell, are pictures of non-entities, except as we 
make them real, to us. In building our thought-world 
we should leave out neo^ative material. Our real world 
is our thought-world and not the " things " that are 
about us. Those words of Jesus, so often repeated 
and emphasized. Fear not, are deeply significant. 
They are religious, and also scientific, *' I will fear no 
evil." 



NINTH SUGGESTION. 1^7 

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128 TENTH MEDITATION. 

Faith is absolutely essential. We must believe or 
we will never move. Doubt and unbelief end in stag- 
nation and death. Positive belief, even if mixed with 
error, leads by degrees towards truth. Its very posi- 
tiveness puts it in a process of self-rectification. Will 
is life. The illumined will is the divine energy, or God 
in us. It is a manifestation of the Eternal Will, the 
supreme ego. Nothing can withstand its energy. It 
takes hold upon forces that are infinite. To live vig- 
orously, we must live h\ faith. Our nourishment is 
unseen, but real. Those who are dohig the most to 
uplift the world are those whose intensity of faith first 
reconstructed their own souls. " I will " is a projectile 
that hits the mark, a power that " removes mountains." 
Doubt is disintegration. It leads into the Slough of 
Despond. It is leaden, nerveless, and cowardly. " I 
will " is the pilot that grasps the helm and steers the 
human craft Godward. Its vitality includes regenera- 
tion and even creative power. " Faith is the sub- 
stance " (present realization) " of things hoped for." 
** I will : be thou made clean." 



TENTH SUGGESTION, 1 29 

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Cm()\) is spirit (iiol (/ spirit, as iiuorrcclly Iniiishitcd ). 
\( (jocl \k' S[)iriL I lis ()lls])riiiL; musl be: spiril also. 
Triu;, iorins aiul organisms arc hiiik I))- its sul)l](' and 
onlcrl) ciicrL;)', l)iil llicy arc only shadows c^ast hy the 
imsccii suhslaiicc. 1 )iist is sci/cd upon l)y its lixiii^- j)0- 
Iciuy and moulded and lashioncd to express its (piality 
and plane. It is only our dull niatei-ialisin that ronlcrs 
sul)siaiuicdit)' upon the seen. Spirit is solid and iiulc- 
structihle. I am spirit. ^hlttcr serves me as a tem- 
poiary c()rres|)ondenc-e and serx'ant. 1 am not Ixxiy, 
hut spirit, now. Space, time, and localit)' are only pro- 
xisional, sensuous limitations. To build of endurinq^ 
matei'ial we musl build in spiril. 1 he spiritual realm 
is here as much as hcrealler. It is the I'ich divine ex- 
uberance in which we lix'c, mo\-e, and receive vitality. 
A spiritual il^Iow within sends its wai'm iiuiL^oratino- 
cnero)' outwards. I hereby link m)selt to the un- 
changeable. I am compassed with i^ood, and liviuL^ 
in an eternal fountain ol strcni^tli. All potenc^y is in 
spirit. My trust is in the unseen, which is the Real. 
'rhrou'di it 1 am tilled with i ill-:. 



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132 TWELFTH MEDITATION. 

Freedom is harmony with Law. Law is not only 
universal, but beneficent. I deny my past condition 
of servitude. I am no longer bound by the chains of 
appetite, passion, impulse, custom, creed, fashion, socie- 
ties, politics, traditionalism, or the animal nature. I 
deny their power. Only the spiritual self is free, and 
I recognize that as my real ego. I deny the bondage 
of matter. It is no longer a prison-wall. I repudiate 
the tyranny of the senses. They are my servants ; no 
longer masters. 

I open my mind to truth, and welcome it from what- 
ever quarter it may come. I assert my supremacy 
over outward circumstances, and deny the power of 
both physical pain and pleasure. My consciousness 
goes be)'ond the body and all its belongings, and 
dwells with the divine and spiritual self. 

'' Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 

" He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, 
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of 
the prison to them that are bound." 

" For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
made me free from the law of sin and death." 



TWELFTH SUGGESTION. 1 33 

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134 THIRTEENTH MEDITATION. 

''There is no death ! What seems so is transition." 
Man lays aside the curtain which, in his servitude to 
the senses, he has hung between God and himself, and 
calls the process death. Paul declares, " I die daily." 
This is to grow spiritually. It is an elimination of 
the base, the earthy, the sensual. We fear so-called 
death because our sense of life is material. But life 
is spiritual. Material forms disintegrate, but life never 
dies. All real life is eternal life. Physical sensation 
is only a temporary manifestation of life, — a passing 
phase. So-called death is no stay to development. 
The only death is the cessation of the false sense of 
life. The ideal is to spiritualize our bodies so that 
transition will be as gentle as stepping into an adjoin- 
ino- room. Enoch walked with God and was trans- 
lated. Let us hope that the New Dispensation, now 
opening, will make it possible, in the not distant 
future, to displace conventional death by a gentle spir- 
itualization or transition. The dominion of death con- 
sists in the fear of it. This is the " last enemy" that 
shall be destroyed. " If a man keep my word he shall 
never see death." 



THIRTEENTH SUGGESTION. . I 35 

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136 FOUR TREE NTH MEDITATION 

Things which we hold in our consciousness soon 
become our possession. Universal evolution, which 
sees all things " in a state of becoming," is the great 
modern inspiration. The feeling within us, that con- 
ditions, social, political, economic, ethical, and reli- 
gious, are really growing better, has a wonderful 
healing power in itself. Temporary, local, and appar- 
ent declensions do not affect the universal trend. The 
imperfection of to-day is the stepping-stone for to-mor- 
row. Life is richer, love stronger, truth more beauti- 
ful, nature fairer, music sweeter, art diviner, than we 
have ever dreamed. God is infinitely better than we can 
imagine. There is no failure, and pessimism is only 
the shadow of a disordered dream. An eternal unfold- 
ing is going on which shows infinite wisdom, order, 
foresight, and beneficence. We are on the way 
towards the " Father's House." Evolution interprets 
all seeming confusion. Present discord will glide into 
the harmony of the future. We are pressing on 
towards the supreme ideal, which includes wholeness 
on every plane, for the individual and the race. I 
look upward. 



FO UR TEE NTH SUGGES 77 ON. I 3 / 

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138 FIFTEENTH MEDITATION: 

The divine heredity overlaps all inherited human 
ills. The fact that I am God's child must rule my 
consciousness, until, like the rising sun, it dissipates 
the fogs and mists of ancestral inharmony. In a vastly 
deeper and more vital sense I am God's child than 
that of my parents. " As children of God we have a 
divine patrimony, — spiritual and material. It includes 
everything that is good ; i.e., God-like. " For we are 
also His offspring." " Behold, what manner of love the 
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called children of God ; and such we are." Not 
shall be, but are. But instead of this we have called 
ourselves " miserable worms of the dust." There is 
no surer way of becoming '' worms " than to think that 
we are worm-like, rather than God-like. God's (our 
Father's) image in us must be uncovered and brought 
to the front. " I and my Father are one." This is 
true of the Christ that was in Jesus, and also of the 
Saviour that is in us. God is not ill, and His children 
neither inherit disease nor have it sent upon them. 



FIFJ'EENTH SUGGESTION. 139 



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I40 SIXTEENTH MEDITATION. 

Soul. Why dost thou come to torment me ? I 
would have peace and be free from thy dominion. 

Pain. I am thy friend, and my mission is beneficent. 

Soul. How can that be while thy presence so dis- 
tresses me ? I pray thee, depart. 

Pain. My face seems repulsive and cruel, but my 
character is only revealed upon acquaintance. 

Soul. What then is thy mission ? 

Pain. I am a warninof monitor to save thee from 
thy baser self ; an angel of mercy to lift thy conscious- 
ness — even though by goads — to higher life and 
harmony. Accept my judgment and profit by my 
discipline, and my cruel features will be transformed. 
Thine own attitude towards me determines my aspect 
to thee. See me as thy friend, and my correction will 
become gentle. I educate and refine. Thy hostility 
sharpens my shafts. 

Soul. I now interpret thy mission. Thou dost 
link bitterness to sin to turn us from it. But for that, 
we should forever disregard divine law, and finally 
destroy ourselves. 

Pain. Only my flaming sword prevents it. Thou 
hast rightly interpreted. 



SIXTEENTH SUGGESTION. I4I 



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142 SEVENTEENTH MEDITATION. 

I GO into the silence and open my Inner hearing- to 
the " still, small voice." The sanctuary of soul is the 
"Holy of Holies;" the trysting-place of the divine 
and the human. The tribunal of God is at the soul- 
centre of man. The divine likeness is here unveiled. 
It is the "manner" where the Christ-consciousness 
comes to birth, while external discords are only the 
beasts of the stall. It is the angel who brings "good 
tidings of great joy." Here the resurrection takes 
place, when the stone of the lower self-consciousness 
Is rolled away. Here is the divine affinity which feels 
Its oneness with God. " The kingdom of God cometh 
not with observation : neither shall they say, Lo, here ! 
or, there ! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you." 
That kingdom Includes wholeness, harmony, and health. 
The sun of righteousness arises with " healing in his 
winors." 

o 

The Lord was not In " the wind," " the earthquake," 
nor " the fire," but in the " still, small voice." As we 
feel the Presence, we receive an impress of its beauty 
and perfection. 



SEVENTEENTH SUGGESTION. 143 

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144 EIGHTEENTH MEDITATION. 

There are invisible threads which connect us with 
every object which makes up our environment. Vi- 
brations are ever passing over these connections, back- 
ward and forward, and it is for us to control their 
purpose and quality. Every star, sun, person, circum- 
stance, and principle is exchanging messages with us. 
The despatches we send are echoed back in duplicate 
quality. Love for love, antagonism for antagonism, 
pain for pain. Everything bears the aspect that we 
give it. Love gilds every object upon which we pro- 
ject it, and its sheen is reflected back in rays of golden 
light. By its magic, stumbling-blocks become step- 
ping-stones. Love " thinketh no evil," and I follow its 
example. I create a harmonious environment by pro- 
jecting thought only of the good. God created all 
thinofs ofood, and in the kinofdom of mv own conscious- 
ness I will do the same. I will think only harmonious 
thoughts, and thereby make harmony. x'\ll is good. 



EIGHTEENTH SUGGESTION. 1 45 

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146 NINETEENTH MEDITATION 

There Is no axiom plainer than that the higher 
should control the lower, and no one but a positive 
materialist can deny that man is above his body. The 
" fall of man " consists of his dropping into subjection 
to his animal nature. When the body rules, it soon 
becomes an unrelenting tyrant, but, if it occupies a 
secondary place, it is serviceable and beautiful. Man 
must assert his superiority. Spiritual victory must be 
achieved and old thincrs become new. Desire and as- 

o 

piration are laws of growth. Demand brings supply, 
and nothing in the universe can hold it back. Every 
soul is invested with a divine dignity and should reign 
in its own kingdom. Man is a prince, and to abdicate. 
his heirship is to fail of his grand end. I will never 
surrender my God-given prerogative. I deny the rule 
of the seen, sensuous, and the material. I am sur- 
charged with spiritual potency and life. I link myself 
to that which cannot be shaken. I ascend the mount 
of spiritual vision and realize divine sonship and right- 
ful dominion. I rule the body and bodily mind. 



NINETEENTH SUGGESTION. 1 47 

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148 TWENTIETH MEDITATION. 

Health is natural. The natural is that which is in 
harmony with orderly law. All law is beneficent, 
therefore the degree of harmony in anything is the 
test of its naturalness. God is the Author of nature, 
and natural law is divine method. Inharmony, disease, 
and unhappiness are unnatural, because they are dis- 
cordant with all that is normal and ideal. Nature does 
not knozv any lack of conformity. Man is naturally, 
generically, and potentially whole. All illness is a 
deviation, and comes from artificiality. Thought, the 
human creative faculty, misses the mark. 

The spiritual should mould the material, the inner 
the outer ; and all human experience proves the reason- 
ableness of such an order of relation. It follows that 
human vitality can be increased only from within, and 
that drug-medication is abnormal and adds no new life. 
It deals only with effect, and is clearly unnatural and 
irrational. Man must hold before him an undeviating 
pattern, and thereby grow into its likeness. Nature is 
not " sickly," and for man — its crowning feature — to 
be disordered proves his continual '' fall " into materi- 
alism. Nature, rightly interpreted, is spiritual. The 
universal order speaks only of wholeness and harmony.. 



TWEXTIETH SUGGESTION. 1 49 

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150 TWENTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 

Science Is systematized truth, as manifested under 
the operation of law. The great obstacle to the gen- 
eral acceptance of mind-healing has been the mistaken 
popular notion that its elements were mystical, occult, 
magical, or capricious. Nothing could be further from 
the truth. The laws of spiritual science are as exact 
as those of mathematics. Every hour of positive high 
affirmation of the ideal perfection of mind and body, 
tends directly to actualize such conditions. When 
this principle is intelligently grasped it is at once seen 
to be scientific. There is no more uncertainty about 
its trend than there is about our nearing an object if 
we walk towards it. Even though orderly mental 
forces may sometimes be set in viotion h\ pure super- 
stition (as through shrines and holy relics), the result 
is no less logical. The usual limitation of " science " 
to the realm of matter is its degradation. There is no 
fact better fortified than that mental states and qualities 
tend to embody themselves. Thousands of instances, 
illustrations, and analogies prove such a sequence to 
be scientifically accurate. 



TWENTY-FIRST SUGGESTION. 15I 

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152 TWENTY-SECOND MEDITATION 

The whole tenor of the Bible indicates that healing 
is expected as the natural result of the quickened spir- 
itual life. Preach the gospel, and heal the sick, are 
both included in the great divine commission. They 
are the inner and outer sides of one whole. The ex- 
ternal is the visible sign and attestation of the genu- 
ineness of the spiritual and internal. 

" He that believeth on me " (is this limited ?), " the 
works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works 
than these shall he do ; because I go unto the Father." 
(John xiv. 12.) 

" And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, 
cleanse the lepers, cast out devils : freely ye have re- 
ceived, freely give." (Matt. x. 7, 8.) 

" And these signs shall follow them that believe : in 
my name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak 
with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents, and if 
they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt 
them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall 
recover." (Mark xvi. 17, 18.) 

The Psalms are full of declarations, to the effect that 
wholeness is the natural result of abiding in God. 
Healing is biblical. 



TWENTY-SECOND SUGGESTION. I 53 

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154 TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

Prayer is communion, aspiration, soul-contact with 
God. The ideal prayer is not a petition for things, 
for Infinite Love has already bestowed the best, 
though we may be unconscious of it. To expect a 
change on God's part would imply that He is imper- 
fect. The ruling desire of each soul is its praye7^, 
therefore each one prays " without ceasing," wisely 
or unwisely. If it be for wealth, pleasure, renown, or 
sensuous gratification, the answer is upon the same 
low plane. The response comes, but proves unsatis- 
fying. But true prayer wields divine forces and makes 
them ministries of blessinof. It discovers and utilizes 
divine law. Every prayer for the best is eternally 
answered — on God's part — but not to us — unless 
we come into at-one-ment. 

*' All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe 
that ye have received them, and ye shall have them." 
(Mark xi. 24. New Version.) 

If ruling desire binds me to God, I shall receive 
what is God-like. I link myself there, and not to dust. 
I pray to be whole, and on God's part the answer is 
eternally complete. To pray is to lift the soul into 
unison with the Eternal Goodness. 



TWENTY-THIRD SUGGESTION. I 55 

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156 TWENTY-FOURTH MEDITATION. 

As the building is complete in the mind of the 
architect before it appears outwardly, so the divine 
innermost is already perfect, waiting for me to bring 
it into the external. I am well, because the spiritual 
is the real, even if it be not yet outwardly manifest. 
How shall I actualize the inward ideal ? By thought- 
concentration upon it, and by identifying the conscious 
ego with it. / am spirit, not matter. / am whole, 
despite outer appearances. The real ego being per- 
fect, I am potentially sound in mind and body. The 
spirit of wholeness is in contact with every fibre and 
tissue of my organism. In God's strength I affirm 
that my (naming seemingly diseased parts or mem- 
bers) are already well, strong, and beautiful. The 
spiritual body of correspondence is divinely complete, 
and that is the /. I bolt the door of thought against 
every mental picture of imperfection and disorder. I 
hold only the perfect, and affirm nothing less. I also 
claim entire supremacy over intellect and memory. I 
will forget the evil and remember the good. I am 
whole, mentally and physically. 



TWENTY-FOUR Til SUGGESTION. I 5 7 



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158 TWENTY-FIFTH MEDITATION, 

" But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me ; and leave 
the dead to bury their own dead." 

I hereby bury my negation, weakness, fear, selfish- 
ness, and all doubt under a mountain of positive, in- 
tense, living Truth. 

I am perfectly sound in mind and body. Nothing 
in the universe can hinder my progress. 

I am the child of God. The divine will is my will. 

It is only good. I understand and feel it. 

I am strong in the Lord, one with my Father. 

I am in loving relation to the universal order. 

I am peace to all my environment. 

I am Love, and radiate it everywhere. 

Goodness is flowing into me. 

Christ is formed in me and is the All. 

I have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

I " walk after the Spirit." 

" For all things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, 
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things 
present, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are 
Christ's ; and Christ is God's." 



TWENTY-FIFTH SUGGESTION. I 59 



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APPENDIX 



One great field which the author of Ideal Suggestion believes 
will open to it in the near future, is the reformation of inebriety. 
The world is struggling with the problem of finding an efficient 
remedy for the slavery to intoxicants. There is no common agree- 
ment as to the best •means to accomplish this purpose, and the 
efforts put forth are spasmodic, unsystematic and unscientific. 
The great organized movements for the suppression of intemper- 
ance have changed during the last few decades, and in some 
respects the trend seems to have been reactionary. 

The Washingtonian movement, with the moral enthusiasm which 
followed, and education and moral suasion in general, have been 
largely displaced by efforts toward legal prohibition and external 
suppression. No disparagement is cast upon prohibition, so far as 
it goes, but it does not cure inebriety. It is unfortunate that it 
has popularly come to be regarded as synonymous with temperance, 
and therefore it has largely overshadowed and displaced organized 
moral agencies. Under the most favorable conditions it is external, 
and inadequate to the great end desired by its well-meaning and 
conscientious advocates. 

Another phase of present thought, is the idea that inebriety is a 
disease of the body, and that it can be cured by material medi- 
cation. This view has gained considerable acceptance from the 
fact that many cures take place through the power of numerous, 

i6i 



1 62 APPENDIX. 

subtle and unconscious mental influences which are generally un- 
appreciated or ignored. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon this 
solution of the seeming results of medication ; for those who have 
perused Part I. of this book will find every phenomenon abundantly 
accounted for in accordance with the laws of mental causation. 

Inebriety is cured temporarily by "hypnotic suggestion." Vivid 
mental impressions imposed by another mind change the victim's 
likes, tastes, and even his ruling appetite. This assertion does not 
need to be verified to any who are aware of the progress of hyp- 
notic research in a few of the noted institutes of Europe, and to a 
much less extent in this country. The mere experimental stage 
has been passed. 

The inebriate needs to be set free — cured fiom within — which 
involves the overcoming of the old consciousness by a new and 
higher one. Suggestion is the luiinan motor. To pass a saloon, 
suggests a drink. A feeling of depression or weakness does the 
same on account of the known temporary exhilaration which fol- 
lows. On the other side, things external, especially the palpable, 
forfeited respect of his fellows, suggests to the victim that he is a 
victim. Everything within and without concurs regarding his deg- 
radation. The lower selfhood is emjDhasized, and the conscious- 
ness sinks into animalism. Now what does he need t Most 
assuredly 77V7V/ suggestions of the opposite and higher. In some 
way they must be lodged in his mind. If he have any desire for 
release — and almost every one does in some degree — Ideal 
Suggestion furnishes a systematic means to the end. In propor- 
tion as it is thoroughly followed, mental laws insure positive results. 

Let us briefly outline a possible reformatory conducted in accord 
with the laws of suggestion as they shape mental action. What 
would be the modus operandi? In the first place the inebriate in 
man would not be recognized, but utterly ignored. The theory in 
all instruction and intercourse would be, that the divine in man is 



APPENDIX. 163 

the man. He is ideally whole, potentially perfect, — a child of God. 
Everything must emphasize that suggestion. All this would natu- 
rally include the exercises in mental photography as formulated in 
this work. These and kindred ideals would be graphically im- 
pressed upon the mental field of vision. This action, to the outer 
sense, could be heightened by the employment of words in electric 
light, or formed of tiny gas-jets in a background of darkness, 
instead of the common printed text. An hour's exposure to such 
ideals during each day would produce a remarkable impress upon 
the mc?ital vision. The rational use of some such unique means 
will be easily grasped when it is understood that the object is a 
vivid mental picture. Take such " suggestions " as " I am free," 
" I am soul," or " God is here." After a few days they would 
stand out before the mind, by Jiight and by day. They would be 
seen in wo?'ds of fire before the saloon-entrance, and flame up in 
the mind's eye at every call of the appetite. The higher self-con- 
sciousness thus gained would make it plain to the man that it was 
only the animal, and not himself^ who craved the stimulant. 

Such an institution is to-day only an imaginary one ; but it would 
be in accord with the laws of mind, and it is to be hoped that it 
may have a practical trial in the not distant future. In the past, 
under traditional and materialistic theories, retreats and asylums 
have entirely disregarded the immutable order of mental causation. 
Their aims have been good, but their methods have not fitted the 
laws of mind, and the power of ideals has been unappreciated. 
Now that human duality, or the double consciousness, is becoming 
understood, the way is open through idealism for a great advance- 
ment. It is quite true that the philosophy here advanced may 
seem strange, and perhaps visionary, to many whose thinking has 
been superficial, but such has been the verdict which at first has 
greeted every great advance of liistory. 



TENTH EDITION 



IDEAL SUGGESTION 



THROUGH 



MENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY 

A Restorative System for Home and Private Use, Preceded 
by a Study of the Laws of Mental Healing 

By HENRY WOOD 

AUTHOR OF "god's IMAGE IN MAN," "EDWARD BURTON," "THE 

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NATURAL LAW," " STUDIES 

IN THE THOUGHT WORLD," ETC. 

Paper, SO cents Cloth, $1.25 

Part I. of this work is a study of the Laws of Mental Ilcalin"-, and Part II. 
embodies thein in a restorative system, formulated and arranged for home and 
private use. Visionary and impracticable aspects of the subject are eliminated, 
and a scientific basis is found. The book is not technical, but thoroughly plain 
and concise, and will prove a boon to invalids and a valuable addition to the 
substantial literature of the subject. 

A Few Testimonies and Opinions of the Hundreds that 
have been received of like Tenor. 

" ' Ideal Suggestion ' marks an epocn in my life." — J. L. Q. 

" At the end of .a month I feel a great change for the better, physi- 
cally."— E. W. 

From an Eft^lish lord: "'Ideal Suggestion' has been a friend in 
Nieed to me." 

" It has been a tremendous inspiration to me, and to the twenty or 
thirty people I have lent it to, or influenced to buy it." — A.J. R. 

Fro7ii a Clergyman : " Your books are solid food to me." 

" My obligations to * Ideal Suggestion ' are very great."— W. H. 

"The meditations go with me as companions from place to place." 

— G. n. N. 



The Political Economy 

of Natural Law 

By henry wood 

Author of "Ideal Suggestion through Mental Photography," "God's 
Image in Man," " Edward Burton," etc. Paper, 50 cents; clotli, .51.25 



CONTENTS. 



II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 
XIII. 



General Principles 
Supply and Demand 
The Law of Competition 
The Law of Cooperation 
Labor and Production 
Combinations of Capital 
Combinations of Labor 
Employers and Profit Sharing 
Employes: Their Obligations and 

Privileges 
Governmental Arbitration 
Economic Legislation and Its 

Proper Limits 
Dependence and Poverty 
Socialism as a Political System 



XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 
XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX 

XXI. 

XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 



Can Capital and Labor be Har- 
monized 
Wealth and Its Unequal Distri- 
bution 
The Law of Centralization 
Action and Reaction, or 

" Booms " and Panics 
Money and Coinage 
Tarifts and Protection 
The Modern Corporation 
The Abuses of Corporate Man- 

agement 
The Evolution of the Railroad 
Industrial Education 
Natural Law and Idealism 



Mr. Wood possesses the rare art of making an admittedly dry subject, not only 
instructive, but positively entertaining, and this art is demonstrated in the present vol- 
ume. — Boston Advertiser. 

Mr. Wood's task has been accomplished in admirable style The work is one 
that breeds reflection. Its perusal broadens the horizon and lifts the thinker into 
lofty altitudes — altitudes where mind is seen to bv. the worker, and labor, land, capital, 
and coin to be but the tools; where altruism is stimulated and the sweetness of charity if 
realized, and the fact of racial unity is felt, and a glimpse is had, as from Pisgah's sum 
mit, of the final fraternization of humanity. — Chicago E'c'ening Post. 

" The Political Economy of Natural 1 aw" is written in a clear style, and is in al' 
points an admirable, satisfactory, and original treatment of the subject. — .S"«« Fraji- 
CISCO Call. 

It were well for the nation if more works of like facility of comprehension and dealing 
with such subjects were disseminated. — Philadelphia Item 

It would be difficult to imagine a clearer statement of premises and conclusions than 
is therein contained, and there is no profession nor business to which its teachings do not 
apply. — Boston Ideas. 

It would be well indeed for the future were this work adopted as a text-book. — 
The Occident {Chicago). 

His mental powers are both analytic and synthetic, and it is a genuine pleasure — a 
mental recreation — to follow him through his reasoning processes - Christian Leader 
{Cinci)inati). 

The " Trade Journal " might fill len of its columns with just such interesting quota- 
tions, but it does not intend to. Every reader of this paper should lose no time in 
possessing himself of a copy of the book. — Indianapolis Trade Jour7ial. 

We wish it might be read by every thoughtful man — laborer and capitalist — in our 
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It is a good book for teachers .vho want to be fairly intelligent on these vital ques- 
tions. — Ohio Educational Motithcy. 



Sold by all Booksellers, or sent, postpaid, by the Publishers, 
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Edward Burton 

AN IDEALISTIC flETAPHYSICAL NOVEL 
By HENRY WOOD 

Eighth Edition 
In Cloth 299 pages $1.25 In paper covers 50c 

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high thinking in fields of optimistic outlook and of religious meditation, 
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Christian Union, New York. 

" A very powerful story, which holds the reader's attention from be- 
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orous account of the influence exerted by the numerous systems of 
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A STORY OF THE PAULINE ERA 

By HENRY WOOD 

Cloth 510 pages $1.50 

'■'• The story flows limpidly, style and substance agreeing as water and 
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charged. We recommend the book to Christian readers." — A^. )'. /n- 
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" Is a story that blends art and religion in a wonderfully attractive 
way, and is rich in romance, psychology, philosophy, and mystery; the 
author does not grow tiresome, although his book is 500 pages long." 
— Boston Herald. 

LEE and 5HEPARD Publishers Boston 



God's Image in Man 

Some Intuitive Perceptions of Truth 
By HENRY WOOD 

AUTHOR OF "IDEM- SUGGESI ION " "liUVVAKD HUKTON" "TIIK rOLITICAL 

ECONOMY OF NATURAL LAW " "STUDIES IN THE 

THOUGHT world" ETC. ETC. 

Ninth Edition Cloth 258 pages $1.00 



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" God's Image in Man" is a work which will quicken the aspiration of every 
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Its pure and elevated style is wonderfully attractive. This vojunie is one of 
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It treats of the different modes of divine revelation and coi^nate subjects in the 
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This work will find a host of readers among those who are interested in relig- 
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Full of deep and suggestive ideas from the standpoint of theology of the divine 
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Mr. Wood's method is that of Horace Rushnell, of Beecher and of Sweden- 
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Many who have been hampered by the trammels of mediaeval thought may 
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Mr. Wood has done us a service, and we trust that many will receive from the 
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With poetic insight, reverent spirit, and glowing language the author of this 
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St. Louis. 

LEE and SHEPARD Publishers Boston 



FOURTH EDITIOiN 



Studies in the Tliougtit World 

or Practical Mind Art 



By henry wood 

Author of *' Ideal Suggestion " " God's Image in Man " " Edward 

Burton" "The Political Economy of Natural Law" 

etc. Cloth $1.25 

Mr. Wood is a seer as well as a thinker. He searches to find the secrets of the 
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pressive, like his thought. He ranks with the foremost writers and thinkers of the 
time. — Boston Courier. 

We doubt very much if in the v/hole range of English literature we have ever 
read anything more fascinating than his chapter on " The Divinity of N;iture." It 
has all the beauty of Emerson, — another idealist, — and all the sympathy of 
Thoreau. — The Minneapolis Tribune, 

The series of papers are redolent of intellectual ozone, of mental exhilaration, and 
great spiritual tonicity. The author makes the somewhat dilllcult pliilosophy of 
the higher life very clear in his able treatment of the subject from a scientific stand- 
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The result of reading this book is to acknowledge Mr. Wood an original thinker 
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way that is graphic and interesting. He has no superior as an essayist. — Boston 
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Mr. Wood has the faculty of presenting vital .topics in an interesting and very 
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There is not a page in it that does not contain matter for a fascin iting coat o 
V'ersy. — Saturday Evening- Gazette, Boston. 



Sent prepaid on receipt of price by 

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